Maybe,Not so normal
by VaneBEAR
Summary: Ebony Thompson had it all. Cool friends and amazing parents,but what about when she finds out they're not REALLY her parents? Has the world gone mad? Who would've known things could get so bloody confusing so fast! slightly AU OCXGeorge
1. First Days

**Chapter One- **

**First Days**

Ebony Thompson lived a normal life, with a normal family that loved her, and she had amazing friends. Well, it was all normal except for the fact that she was a witch, and her parents were completely fine with it. In fact, they _loved _it. Oh... It was also _not _very normal that she went to a boarding school for witches and wizards in training called Hogwarts. Even though she was Muggle-born, she'd found out about Harry Potter soon after entering the Wizarding World. He was also known by other titles like "The boy who lived" and such. Ebony, despite not always wanting to, heard rumors and some of them were extraordinary. In fact, some of the things she heard were not rumors at all, but the truth. He had survived the killing curse, Avada Kedavra as an infant and did so much amazing things so far in his years at Hogwarts. The boy was a _legend_! Only last year, he had won the Triwizard Cup. Of course, him coming out with the Cedric Diggory's dead body did put a bit of a dampener on the achievement.

Okay, so _maybe _her life wasn't so normal after all. But _she _liked to think of it as one.

"Bye mum! Bye dad!" Ebony kissed them each good bye on the cheek**,** and clambered up the door to the scarlet train labeled with "Hogwarts Express" on its side. She didn't look back, so she missed the look her parents shared.

As she passed all the compartments she saw Ron and Hermione, Harry's best mates, pass by her with prefect's badges gleaming on their chests. How Ron, Harry's lesser-known friend, had become a prefect was beyond her. She wasn't even in their year, but even _she _knew of some of the ridiculous things he did or said. Most of what she knew, she knew from her friend, Ginny - Ron's sister

After a couple minutes of walking past compartments, she finally found the one that occupied two girls and walked in and started to put her luggage up. She smiled and greeted her friends, Holly and Jamie.

"Hey where's Ginny?" Ebony wondered aloud.

Jamie snickered, "She's sitting in a compartment with _Harry Potter!_" When she saw Ebony's mouth drop she added, "Luna, better known as 'loony', Lovegood and Neville Longbottom are in that compartment too."

Ebony knew who Luna was, and she was a little annoyed about her being called loony. The girl was a bit odd, but she was great because of it. She also knew that Neville was in their House, but she'd never really met him. All she knew about him was that he was dreadfully clumsy and forgetful, but a very nice bloke.

"I thought Ginny got over her insane crush for Harry a _long_ time ago?" Ebony asked.

"Oh she did. Jamie just likes making everything into something that sounds juicy or scandalous**,**" Holly said dryly.

It wasn't hard to imagine why she was slightly irritated. It wasn't a rare thing to hear Jamie annoying the living hell out of Holly. Ebony could symphathize with Holly and Ginny, for she was often teased too.

Jamie pouted and Ebony laughed.

"Hey! You can laugh, but I have something on you". Ebony instantly became cautious and Jamie added with a vindictive pleasure, "You have a crush on Fred...or _George!_"

Ebony flushed, "No I don't! I mean, yeah, they're _good-looking, _but I don't fancy either one!" Jamie snickered and even Holly cracked a grin. "What? I don't" They laughed even more. "You guys are unbelievable!" Ebony got up from her seat and meant to exit the compartment, but it was opened by Ginny with Luna in tow.

Ginny looked at Ebony's distressed face and Jamie and Holly laughing, but decided against asking why. After all, with friends like Jamie and Holly it was best to not ask.

"We should probably change into our robes. Oh, I brought Luna because-"

"-We already know... you had to leave the compartment you were sitting in with _Harry Potter_ and his crew." Jamie interrupted.

Ginny raised an eyebrow, "Were you spying on me again trying to find ammo?"

Jamie looked horrified, "No! I learned my lesson that time... Besides, I did that _once." _Ginny rolled her eyes and brought Luna in.

They all already knew each other, so they just got their robes from their trunks. Luna and Ginny had brought out robes from their trunks and come to that compartment just to change.

"Hey, have you guys read the Daily Prophet lately? You know, about how the whole Harry and Dumbledore thing?" Holly asked after they had all changed and Luna had gone to do whatever Luna did.

Of course, they all knew what was happening except for Ebony. "I'm a Muggle-born. I don't know anything about the Wizarding World when I'm there, except for when you send me letters."

"Well, they're saying that Harry is lying about You-Know-Who coming back, and that Dumbledore is some kind of fool-"

"- Ugh! Please tell me you don't believe that rubbish!" Ginny cried out.

Holly's eyes widened, but she didn't shrink back. "Of course I don't! I barely know either person to be able to judge them! Jeez... Bite my head off while you're at it..." Holly muttered something along the lines of "redheads" and "tempers", but the rest of it was unintelligable.

"I'm sorry for snapping at you. It's just hearing about the nasty lies the Prophet and Ministry are spouting ...it riles me up**.**" Ginny managed to say after she calmed down a bit.

Ebony and Jamie were still silent. They had, on several occasions, been subjected to Ginny's redhead temper and it wasn't something to be trifled with.

Ebony was still curious as to what was happening with Harry and Dumbledore with the Prophet, but decided it wouldn't be a good idea to bring it up again. "So, who do you reckon will be the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor? Does anyone know why Professor Moody left? He was so ... _sturdy_."

Ginny didn't know that exact details of why Moody had left, but it wasn't her business anyway.

"I don't know... Let's just hope the new teacher isn't insane or incompetent."

Holly and Jamie laughed. Ebony wasn't very amused, more often than not;the person who got the job had _some _type of problem. When she was in first year the D.A.D.A teacher disappeared, and some speculated he was in the wizard hospital 's. In her second year he was plagued with lycanthropy and turned into a werewolf once a month, and last year's had just left and no one really knew why. Out of the D.A.D.A professors, the werewolf had definitely been the best, but all-in-all Hogwarts didn't have much luck finding a permanent D.A.D.A professor. At this point, Ebony wouldn't be too surprised if she found out the new professor _was_ insane.

When the train stopped the girls all brought down their trunks and made to get out. They clambered down the train door and looked for a carriage. "I found one!" Jamie cried out.

They all climbed into it and sat in a comfortable silence.

When the carriages stopped, the girls climbed out and advanced towards the castle in quick, brisk steps. Their luggage had already disappeared and was probably already up in their dormitories. Ginny, Ebony, Jamie, and Holly walked into the Great Hall and went to their table. As they walked they saw a long line of terrified first-years follow professor McGonagall to the front of the Great Hall. The girls sat down at their spot, closer to the Golden Trio than usual, near the middle of the long table.

After everyone had been situated, professor Dumbledore got up and started his speech. As usual, Ebony tuned out everything around her and just stared unblinkingly at the table that sat all of Hogwart's professors. Her attention wasn't brought back to reality until she looked around and saw that everyone was looking at a toad-like witch wearing _everything _pink. She turned her ears on again and was appalled. That lady, toad, witch thing had interrupted Dumbledore's speech - Something that never happened._Ever_. She had a terribly annoying voice that was much too high-pitched and clashed terribly with her appearance. Correction: That voice clashed terribly with _anyone,_ it was the type of voice that _no one _could successfully pull off.

Ebony turned to her left. Not too far away, Harry and his best friends were staring, dumbstruck, at the toad-like person. She saw Harry mutter something under his breath to them and she thought she heard something about him seeing her before. She also noticed something was off about Harry. He was different, more distant, bitter even and it chilled her down to the core.

After the lady's never-ending speech, Dumbledore was the only person to clap. By the time everyone realized they should clap as well, he had risen to say the rest of his speech, silencing them all. Apparently, this lady was going to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts. She heard the shocked gasps and mutters instantly cease when he clapped once and had the sorting begin.

By the end of sorting, they had about eight or nine new Gryffindors. The food then materialized in front of them, the excitement of the new professor forgotten. She watched in amusement as the first-years gawked at everything -from the amazing variety of foods in front of them, to the enchanted ceiling. Ebony remembered her first year and how it hadn't really sunk in that she was a witch until she was _at _Hogwarts. Even for a school of magic, Hogwarts was _magical. _Ebony smiled absentmindedly and Jamie raised an eyebrow at her, but said nothing.

"Can you guys remember your first day here?" Ebony asked on a whim.

They just looked at her for a second until Holly answered first, "Yeah. I'm pureblood though, so I was used to weird magic stuff, but even then... It was pretty amazing".

Jamie thought for a while, "Well, you know I have a terrible memory... You can't expect me to remember our first day _four years ago._ That's just madness..." The girls giggled at their friend and kept eating, for no one had noticed the hard edge to her words.

Ebony was about to pick up a cupcake when all the food disappeared, "Hey!" Then, she looked up and noticed Dumbledore stood up to do his normal "end-of-feast" speech thing. Ebony was a little miffed at not being able to eat her cupcake, and after a couple seconds she zoned out again.

"... your nice warm beds are waiting for you..."Ebony heard that and was in the process of returning to the "real world" before they were dismissed. She absently followed Ginny and the others up to their common room.

Holly yawned, "I'm _exhausted"_.

Ebony grumbled, "Touche".

Jamie just grunted in a very non lady-like way, while Ginny nodded in agreement.

They were all very tired and all wanted nothing more than to sleep a good night's sleep. If anything, Ebony was probably the only one who worried about the next day. She wouldn't admit it, but she was actually pretty scared and she didn't know why.

They clambered up into the Portrait Hole**,** after Holly said the password, and went towards the girl's staircase. The girls passed a couple other Gryffindors who were daft enough to stay in the common room. On the way to the staircase, they passed Ebony's least-favorite person, Lavender Brown. Lavender sneered at her and then she and her friend Parvati Patil giggled at an inside joke.

Ebony rolled her eyes in annoyance, "Idiots. I wonder what it _really _was that made her hate me".

Holly shot her a confused look, "What?"

Ebony shook her head, "Nothing...nothing of importance".

None of Ebony's friends knew of the animosity between her and the two fifth-year girls. She didn't find it important enough to worry about, and especially not worrisome enough to mention. Besides, she already knew the advice they would give her. Holly would be the mature one and say Ebony should ignore it. Jamie would say something stupid like, "Maybe she doesn't hate you, but secretly _loves _you? There are a lot of lesbians in this school, more than you'd normally think." Ginny would look at Jamie like she had sprouted a second head, and then say she would help Ebony get revenge if they actually did something. Ebony giggled to herself, earning another confused look from her friends. _I love my friends _she thought to herself.

They walked wordlessly into their dorm, all to fatigued to start a conversation, and changed into their sleeping gowns. As soon as she finished changing, Ebony climbed into her warm bed and closed the curtains. She liked sleeping in _total_ darkness. It was one of her many odd quirks.

" G'night..." She murmured, receiving several "goodnight's," and drifted into a dreamless sleep.

**(A/N: DISCLAIMER: I don't own ANYTHING other then my characters :] ) Oh my! I was reading over my story and I've found a lot of mistakes so I'll be sure to fix that! Sorry!**

**VaneBEAR(:**

**Hello, people whom are reading this (I congratulate you on your patience). I have a poll about favorite pairings, and types of stories. Its to help me out for what type of story I should write once I finish this story. Thanks. **

**I'd like to thank my amazing BETA Smile Life Away for helping me make this chapter suck less ;D. Thank you!)**


	2. Umbridge

**(A/N: I will try to post a chapter a few days, because writing takes time and energy that I don't always have... Anyways here's the second chapter**  
**Enjoy!)**

**Chapter Two-**

**Umbridge**

The girls woke up to a dreary and cloudy day.Holly, as usual, had been the earliest to wake up. After Holly, Ginny rose from bed. Ebony, as usual, woke up after those two, and Jamie wouldn't budge unless she was forced out of bed. On this day, Holly had to jump on Jamie's bed yelling loudly while pulling at her arms. Jamie finally got out of bed and started getting dressed muttering at them all the while.

"Don't know why you can't just nudge me _gently_ and call out my name like a sane person would. Were you _trying_ to kill my eardrums?"She grumbled.

Holly raised a blond eyebrow, "We've tried before**,** Jamie**. **You know it takes _way _more to get you to wake up, and your eardrums are fine. You need to be yelled at! You sleep like the dead!"

Ebony smiled and Ginny giggled. Jamie didn't argue with that. Every day, for four years now, they had to make a ruckus to make Jamie even stir. If it ever came to a "_Who can stay asleep longest_" contest Jamie would certainly give the dead a run for their money.

Ebony, Holly, and Ginny were already dressed, and as soon as Jamie finished muttering to herself and finished dressing, they made their way out of the Common Room. It was the first day of classes and none of them were quite sure of what to expect. When they walked down they noticed the Common Room was, for the most part, empty. That was odd, normally by this time of day the Common Room was packed with students. Oh wait... the students were there, but it was eerily silent. Ebony looked around the Common Room and found out why almost instantly. Harry Potter was walking down the boy's staircase with Ron, trying to make his way out of the common room, and being glared at all the way by some guy Ebony thought was name Sammy... or Seamus?

Jamie quirked an eyebrow, clearly sensing something worth gossip points, Holly looked slightly worried. Ebony was just extremely curious as to why Harry was being treated like dung, and Ginny was livid. They all thought Ginny was scary enough when she's yelling angrily. They were down right terrified when she gots all icy and such. They _never _wanted to be given one of Ginny's icy glares. It was just one of those things they thought no one should be subjected to endure. Ebony pulled Ginny with her out of the common room and the other two girls followed.

"What was _that?"_Jamie said soon as they were out.

"They're all _prats... _that's what" Ginny frowned. She didn't understand how people could be daft enough to believe all the nonsense the Daily Prophet was spouting.

Ebony noticed the dangerous waters they were treading with Ginny and decided to change to subject, "Anyone hungry?"

The other girls murmured an affirmative and together they set off towards the Great Hall to eat breakfast and get their schedules for the day.  
Even in the Great Hall, Harry was subjected to people staring and talking about him. They didn't even bother to hide it, anymore.

While looking for a distraction, Harry noticed when Ginny and her Gryffindor friends walked in. He watched as Ginny and another girl with long, almost shaggy, black hair gave him sympathetic smiles. He tried to smile back, but only managed to turn his lips up into a ghost of one.

Ebony blushed and looked down, she hadn't been expecting him to return the smile. This little flurry of movement caught Harry's attention and made him _really _see the girl in front of himself. He obviously didn't know her and he didn't even know her name, but he felt like he had seen her somewhere before. She looked ...almost..._familiar?_

He shook his head and tried to eat, while blocking out his two best friends that were arguing about something, probably something stupid.

The girls**;** however**,** kept walking a little until they reached their favorite spot in the table. They all found a spot to sit in, unluckily for her, Ebony got the worst one. She was stuck next to a second-year that was eating so much so fast it was disgusting. She looked blankly at him before grimacing, "You're supposed to _eat _the food...not inhale it" The boy looked up at her, swallowed really quickly, and almost choked. He was clearly frightened, and not without good reason. He mumbled an apology and ran off shortly after that.

Jamie burst into a fit of laughter, "Haha! That poor kid!"

She was still in hysterics when Ebony said, "What? It was disgusting! It can't possibly be healthy to eat _that_ much _that _fast. I was thinking of _his _well-being"

Holly scoffed and when Ebony raised her eyebrow, as if daring her to contradict, she shrugged and continued munching out of a protein bar.

"Where'd you get the protein bar?" Ebony wondered aloud.

Ginny grinned and Jamie smirked, only making Ebony more confused.

Holly frowned, "It's not a protein bar! It's actually granola bar with chocolate chips! Why do you always assume it's something healthy?"

The other three girls giggled in unison.

Ebony started, "You're a health freak and you know it. I am a little surprised it isn't a protein bar, but I have a feeling you're going to run for an extra hour tonight to get rid of the calories in the thing."

Ebony smiled as Holly looked miffed, Ginny's grin became more pronounced, and Jamie laughed. Holly was known for her healthy habits. They were annoyingly healthy habits, but you couldn't really do anything.

Holly flicked her head and her long, blond hair smacked Jamie right in the face.

"Thanks for whipping me with your freakishly long hair" Jamie's words dripping with sarcasm.

"I'm sorry, freakishly long? It's barely to my waist. It's just long, but not _freakishly_ long!" exclaimed Holly.

Jamie rolled her eyes, "Technicalities." And Holly returned to munching on her granola bar to ignore Jamie. The two best friends were always bickering. It actually got annoying after awhile.

Ebony smiled and looked to her left and Ginny was blushing. Ebony's brow furrowed a tiny bit, trying to find the reason for the unexplained blush.

The said reason was sitting, not too far away, in the form of Michael Corner smiling right back at Ginny. Ebony made a mental note to ask Ginny about it later, because at that moment Professor McGonagall was starting to hand out schedules. She sprinted up to McGonagall, leaving her friends behind, and was given her schedule. When she started walking back to her table, the girls were getting up to get their schedules.

Jamie smirked, "What are _you_ so excited about? You could've just waited two more minutes for us**.**"

Ebony huffed, "I don't have to wait for you to do everything." She bit her lip, a nervous habit of hers, and sat back down on the table to observe her schedule.

"Arithmancy, Herbology, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Divination", she said aloud, frowning.

She didn't like her schedule**. **For one, her first class required for her to actually _think_. It was way too early to think, especially for learning something as useless to her like Arithmancy.On top of that, she had to deal with the Professor for Divination. Ebony thought she was a flat-out fraud, and was only taking the class because Holly had forced her into it.

She still wasn't sure on what to think about the new D.A.D.A professor. She knew today wasn't going to end well. The other girls took their schedules and walked back to where Ebony was sitting.

"Hey Ebby, looks like we have all the same classes!" Jamie cried out enthusiastically.

Ebony resisted the urge to roll her eyes, "we are all Gryffindors. That sort of goes without saying..."

"But... Then, why were you so excited to see the schedule? It was almost as if you were hoping to be free of me." Jamie said with a mock-indignant expression.

Ebony cracked a smile, "like I could _ever _have a chance to be rid of you."

Jamie grinned evilly, "Nope. Not a chance."

The two girls laughed, but Ebony noticed a darker hint in Jamie's eyes. The expression in Jamie's eyes disappeared just as fast as it appeared, so Ebony thought she imagined it. It was then that Ebony noticed Jamie's smirk. She raised an eyebrow before Jamie said, "Fred and George 6 'o clock"

Ebony spun on the spot so fast, her almost-shag came back and whiplashed her in the face. "Ow..."

Ebony was in the process of rubbing her face with her hand, when George walked up to her.

"You should really be careful when you turn. Long hair's a menace, and public enemy number one-" He said while tugging at a clump of his red hair.

"-We would know," added Fred.

Ebony grinned, "Thanks, I'll be sure to turn with extra caution now."

The twins grinned their identical grins, and turned to Harry and the rest of the trio.

She turned back to her friends, still smiling like an idiot on drugs. Jamie smirked, Holly giggled into her hand, and Ginny looked slightly exasperated.

"Please, tell me you don't fancy my brothers. Even if you do, I don't need to hear it right now."

Ebony said nothing. She just followed her friends out the Great Hall - after getting a wink from George, and meeting Harry's eyes. He looked curious, like he wanted to ask her something, but didn't know how. She just gave him a faint smile, and made her way out of the Great Hall.

Together, Ebony and her friends, made their way to their first class, Arithmancy.

**xXXxxXXxxXXxxXXxxXXxxXXx**

"Harry, mate, you all right?" Ron asked.

Harry broke out of his reverie, "Eh... Yeah"

Ron just gave him a dubious look, but continued talking to Hermione.

"...Honestly, I think Sirius was being pretty selfish..."

Harry hadn't been paying much attention to their conversation; he was still trying to figure out where he had seen that girl before. As soon as Hermione said _his_ name, Harry realized with a jolt. Sirius! Perhaps she was some relative. She could be a cousin or something...

He was taken out of his stupor by Hermione pulling him and Ron out of the Great Hall and towards their first class. Bugger.

**xXXxxXXxxXXxxXXxxXXxxXXx**

The girls were the first to walk into the classroom, and didn't really appreciate the fact. It was silent and awkward, and by no means, was it entertaining. When the others finally began to drizzle into the class, Ebony let out a sigh of relief. Not because she particularly liked them, she didn't, but because now at least there was sound and movement in the room versus the silent awkwardness, Ebony preferred her annoying classmates much more.

The class turned out, as expected, to be a drag. The professor, Mr. Stewart, was monotonous and made everything he said seem ten times more boring. It. was. _Torture._

Holly was probably one of the few people whom actually tried to pay attention, but she failed spectacularly. After a couple minutes of his voice that just droned on and on, her eyes glazed over and he had lost her. Holly took out her sketch pad and started drawing random objects around her and in the room. She carried the thing everywhere. Ginny had her elbow on the desk and her chin in her hand, staring blankly at the wall _behind _the professor. At least she was smart enough to at least _look _like she was listening. Ebony had tuned out the teacher as soon as he has started speaking and taken up the chance to compose her own piece of music, just for the hell of it, on a spare piece of parchment. Ebony was just weird like that. Jamie, being Jamie, was knocked out on her desk. She obviously hadn't bothered to at least stay awake. Ebony giggled into her hand. "_Only Jamie,"_ she thought.

Holly had reached into her bag to get out her travel-size paints out, and she looked up to her left and saw Jamie sleeping. She had been planning to save the paints for when she was feeling particularly inspire, but she couldn't just let this opportunity pass her by, so she got a brush and some paints and grinned evilly at her best friend.

**A couple minutes later...**

"Miss Lambert, may I ask what is going on?" Professor Stewart started until he saw the painted face of the sleeping Jamie, "Do I want to know?"

Holly shook her head, "Probably not, but I'll tell you anyway. Jamie was asleep and I had paint. The opportunity was too good to let it go. It was just too easy!"

Professor Stewart was conflicted, he didn't know if he should be amused, or not. He hadn't been teaching at Hogwarts for very long, and honestly, he didn't know what to do with the students half of the time. He didn't know if he should smile and laugh, or punish her, so he went with the easiest option. He ignored it.

Holly didn't seem to mind it much. She didn't get punished _and _she got to keep painting Jamie's face. She was using a special magic paint, and it would take weeks before Jamie would be able to wash it off her face. It was the perfect prank and revenge for all of Jamie's pranks she still hadn't avenged. She knew perfectly well that this was probably going to be the equivalent of proclaiming war to Jamie, but she didn't care very much. She was having too much of a blast.

At this point the whole class had abandoned trying to listen to Professor Stewart, and they were all watching Holly's progress on Jamie's face. Even the Ravenclaws were watching with amused faces. Everyone, but Ebony and Ginny, were really amused at Holly's antics. Ebony and Ginny**;** however, had known the other two for four years now. They were so used to each other's crazy personalities and odd quirks that things like this were hardly surprising, anymore. By this point, Jamie had a variety of different colors and designs on her face, courtesy of Holly. On her forehead, there was a very intricate-looking design that spun and swirled around her temples. If anyone was to look close enough, it looked like a lot of tiny, spinning H's.

Ebony then continued with her composition, oblivious of the other two, while Ginny yawned into her hand and watched Ebony curiously.

Ebony was relatively normal compared to Jamie or Holly, but she had her fair share of weirdness. Watching Ebony compose something was like watching a new species. She swayed and nodded her head to imaginary beats, and tapped her hands and fingers to made-up rhythms. When Ebony found or imagined something she liked, she would quickly jot it down on the staff paper and continue.

Ginny briefly wondered if she was the only normal one of her group, but quickly ruled that out with a "negative." She was, by no means, saner than her friends. After all, she _had _had an insane crush on Harry for ages. That was until she got over it during third year. She had Michael now, and Harry was just a good friend.

Now that even Ginny was obviously spaced out, Professor Stewart didn't even bother to try and regain the class's attention. Any attempt would've been completely futile.

When the bell for dismissal finally came, Professor Stewart was very relieved. Not even his crazy seventh years from last year had been this ...odd. Thinking about how much worse the next year could become made shivers run down his spine unpleasantly.

The class slowly trickled out until the four girls were the last ones in the classroom. Holly, Ebony, and Ginny were having a stare-off to find out who should be the one to wake Jamie up. Ginny blinked first.

"Aha! You have to do it!" Holly exclaimed.

Ebony quirked an eyebrow, "really," She addressed Ginny. "Don't you think the one who painted all over her face with _magic_ paint, should be the one to deal with the consequences?"

Ginny grinned, "That goes without saying! Great minds thing alike, my friend."

The two girls packed up their things and made for the door leaving Holly terrified, and alone. "Don't leave me here in the lion's den!" She yelled very loudly.

Jamie stirred and rubbed her eyes with her thumb and forefinger, "What's this about a Lion's Den?"

Holly's eyes widened, trying to think of what to say, "Its code... super secret. Uber confidential. No one, but I and who I yelled it at can know about it."

Still confused Jamie asked, "why not?"

Holly racked her brains for something convincing, but found nothing. "I'll... uh... die...yeah, a supremely painful, violent death if... if I tell anyone who's not meant to know." She knew she would be caught lying, but surprisingly Jamie seemed to have bought it and dropped the subject.

Holly collected her things and put them up, and when she and Jamie were both ready, they headed down, and outside towards the Green Houses.

Herbology was, like always, normal with little or no incident. It wasn't until the time for double D.A.D.A. class with the Ravenclaws did things get interesting.

While Ebony and her friends passed corridors and hallways, they heard students complaining about that Umbridge woman, or whatever her name was. Clearly, Umbridge wasn't liked very much, to put it mildly. Ebony wondered aloud about just how dreadful Umbridge could be to be able to make so much students already dislike her. Not even professor Snape was this hated.

"I don't know, but we'll probably find out now won't we? We have her next." Ginny said when they were outside the D.A.D.A classroom.

Ebony was still reluctant to walk through the doors. She had an unexplainable fear that things weren't right in more ways than one. She knew very well her fears were unfounded and very, very silly, but she couldn't help having them.

As soon as they walked in they knew something was off. They weren't late yet, because class hadn't started. Yet, the classroom was silent. All of them had heard complaints from other kids about the lady, and they weren't sure how to gauge if what the others' said was true or not.

Ebony, Holly, Jamie, and Ginny all sat down wordlessly at a nearby table, sensing the mood, and looked toward a very toad-like witch. All waited, for what seemed ages until she smiled a really creepy smile, and opened her mouth to speak.

"Wands away," Umbridge said. "You will not be needing those in my classroom. Please, take out your textbooks and read up to chapter 19."

No one was accustomed to a D.A.D.A class _without_ using their wands. That was something unprecedented before in Hogwarts History, but alas, here they were reading from a ridiculously ridiculous book that they were supposed to think was appropriate for their "age-group." Ebony and Ginny shared an incredulous glance. What was she going on about? A D.A.D.A. class without actually learning about _defending_ yourself from the Dark Arts was almost laughable!

"Miss Bl...Thompson. Do you have anything you would like to say?" Ebony looked around nervously. Umbridge was frightening, and she was smiling at her in that non-friendly way, looking like she knew something Ebony didn't.

"No... ma'am," Ebony finally managed to say, although it came out as more of a squeak.

Umbridge smiled that creepy, not-really-a-real-smile smile, "Come again?"

Ebony was being looked at by everyone in the classroom. Expressions ranged from, curious, nervous, sympathetic and Umbridge's sneer. She mustered up as much courage as she could and said and steadily as she could, "I said 'No ma'am,' Professor**.**"

Ebony saw a range of different emotions flit across Umbridge's face, but she could've sworn she saw a hint of hatred behind those hard-to-read eyes. "Five points from Gryffindor, for your cheek, Miss ..._Thompson_"

Ebony breathed in deep and looked down at her hands underneath the table. She didn't know how she'd done it, but she managed to make this woman hate her on her very first day.  
Even while she read, Ebony couldn't quite shake the nagging feeling in the pit of her stomach that Umbridge knew something about her. It still couldn't explain as to why she was treated like a nasty piece of dung, almost like a _criminal_.

Ebony sat there, pretending to read her textbook, purposefully ignoring the glances her three friends kept sending her. She was trying hard, _really hard _to not break down and go into a frenzied rampage. She knew whatever resolve she had to not be murdered by Umbridge, would be lost if she were to look at her friend's faces.

Her patience was wearing thin, and had the dismissal bell come a few minutes later, Ebony would've snapped. She stuffed her textbook into her bag and got out as fast as she could from the room without running. As soon as she was out of that suffocating room, Ebony was much better, but she was still very irked. Nonetheless, she still waited a couple feet away from the door for her friends, who caught up with her a minute or two after she had left.

They walked in silence, all either at a loss for what to say, or in their own private trains of thought. They walked like that the entire trip to their next class; Divination.

Divination, went terribly. Luckily it wasn't a double period, or Ebony would've killed someone or herself... Ebony already had a short temper because of Umbridge, and now she had to deal with the insanity of professor Trelawney. Trelawney had "seen" a grim in Ebony's teacup, and was "predicting" her untimely death, much to Ebony's distaste. Ebony bit her lip, to stop herself from saying the reason she would die early, would be because she would've killed herself to stop from having to hear her false, misty voice. She took the cup back from Trelawney, looked into it, and said, "Next you're going to tell me my death will be a violent, and cruel one aren't you?" She glared when Professor Trelawney's already bulging eyes widened,

"You must possess the seeing eye as well..."

Ebony interrupted Trelawney's muses by scoffing, purposefully dropping the teacup on the ground, and storming out.

"Was it something I said?"... The other three girls rolled their eyes in unison, and as soon as the bell rang to dismiss them**,** they were the first to leave. They needed to find Ebony before she hurt someone...

After combing the castle for a half-hour the girls could not find Ebony anywhere.

"Where could she have gone?"Ginny wondered aloud.

The others shrugged and decided to head back to the Common Room. They would see her again during dinner.

As they were passing the library, the girls saw Ebony, surrounded by an array of different books. They all looked at each other and felt like idiots. How could they have forgotten to check in the Library?

They walked in cautiously, not wanting to do anything that could provoke her.

"What did I _do?_" Ebony finally cried out.

The girls didn't really know what to say so Ginny tried, "Maybe it's not a personal thing. She could've done it to any of us in there."

Ebony pouted and raised an eyebrow, "No... I could've sworn I saw her look at me like she hated me. It _was _personal. Also, the point is, she did it to _me_, which is why I'm pretty sure she hates my guts, but I don't know why..."

The other girls sat around Ebony, trying to find a spot that was book-free. Ginny was the first to say anything, "Ebony, we _all_ have a teacher that seems to hate us at one point or another. I'm sure she doesn't _really_. You're just going to have to endure as much as you can."

Holly added, "Don't let that old-hag get to see the satisfaction of seeing you snap, and have an excuse to treat you worse."

Jamie grimaced, "What an old wench. She's probably never known love of any kind. I'd be willing to bet ten galleons that she still has her V-card."

Ginny smacked Jamie's arm playfully, Holly was shocked and laughing into her hand. Ebony cracked a smile, and was soon in a violent fit of giggles.

"Ebony, it wasn't _that_ funny..." Jamie stated.

Ebony said through giggled, "Yes...It…Is!" Ebony spared another glance at Jamie's face and started laughing.

Jamie started laughing just as hard at Ebony, but for no reason. Suddenly, all four of them were laughing hysterically for, apparently, not reason at all.

"Out! Out, out, out! I will not have this nonsense in my Library." The librarian yelled.

The girls ceased the laughing, but were still grinning ear-to-ear. Ebony picked up her bag and together the girls walked towards the Common Room, all feeling much lighter.

They went up to the Common Room, and went to their dormitory where they left their bags. The girls then went down to the Great Hall for dinner. Ebony walked in, and looked toward the Headmaster's table and saw Umbridge sneer at her. She winced, but followed her friends to the Gryffindor table. They sat near the Golden Trio and the twins, whom were talking about "that horrible Umbridge woman." It seems Umbridge had also "picked on" Harry, but also gave him a detention for saying You-know-who was back.

"She's terrible! She did a similar thing to Ebony during our class. It was terrible. Luckily, it's not a double-period or Ebony would've murdered someone."Ginny stated.

"What'd you mean?"Ron asked.

"She looked at me like she _hated_ me, and almost as if she knew something bad about me. Something she would have fun holding over my head. She took off points for repeating what I had said, when _she _asked me to repeat it!" Ebony obviously still held a bit of residue anger at the woman, and none really knew what to say. That is, until they all noticed Jamie's face.

Fred was biting on a chicken wing, and George was putting more mash potatoes on his platter when he noticed it. His face cracked into a grin, "Is is this like a new fad you're trying, or something?" The others looked at Jamie's face, and while they all laughed, Jamie was confused.

"What're you talking about?"

Ignoring Holly's panicked hand signals telling him to stop he said, "You're face. It's ...colorful"

"What?" said a confused Jamie. She picked up an empty silver platter and turned it to its back to see her reflection. What she saw came as a very nasty shock.

"My...my _face…_Holly…Did _you do this!_" her voice rose about an octave higher. "How come no one said anything? All day people were looking at me and giggling, I thought that they were all on something, but now I know why!"

Holly couldn't stop a giggle escape from her lips, and was immediately narrowed down as the culprit.

Jamie glared at her best friend for a few minutes until her lips turned up into an evil grin, "You realize...this means war?"

Holly duplicated her grin, "Of course. I knew it all along"

"Aha! Fred, pay up", George cried out.

"Bummer, I was so close." When everyone looked curiously at them Fred said, "We were betting on how Jamie would react and how Holly would react to Jamie's reaction. Looks like George was right about the war thing." They all looked at the twins, not knowing what to say, and decided to simply _not_.

They started talking about pranks and such; probably trying to fuel Jamie and Holly with ideas. Ebony didn't like all of their pranks very much, mainly because she ended up taking the brunt of them. she particularly got hit with Holly's or Jamie's pranks. Right now, though, Ebony didn't seem to mind much. She was just glad they had stopped talking about that _evil_ woman, and she didn't have to think anymore about her. She tried her best to ignore the sensation of having something trying to burn a hole in the side of her head, and talked idly about unimportant things with her friends.

Harry's attention wandered to and away from Ebony a couple times. He was trying to see similarities between her and his godfather.

"God... They even laugh the same..." he stated aloud. Ron gave him a curious glance, but decided against asking. Harry wasn't really known for being the sanest of the lot. When the food finally disappeared and they all headed back to their Common Rooms, Harry made a mental note to ask Sirius about her some time.

The girls were back in their dormitory, and were changing into their sleeping gowns. "You know, Ebony, tomorrow will probably be a lot better. Our schedule for tomorrow is Charms, Transfiguration, Potions, Care of Magical Creatures, and Muggle Studies"

"Why Muggle studies?" Ebony asked, "I'm Muggle**-**born."

"It's an easy O," Jamie said. "My dad's a Muggle, so I know a little. Even if I didn't, it would be the easiest grade ever."

Ebony shrugged. She didn't really care as long as she didn't have to see that... She couldn't even _think_ about that woman without getting angry.

Ebony climbed into bed and said goodnight to her friends. Ginny was already half asleep, Jamie was trying- unsuccessfully- to get rid of the paint, and Holly was fidgeting nervously trying to go to bed.

This was bound to be an interesting year. Maybe, not the best, but interesting it would be.

**(A/N: Hi! btw I'd like to state again that i DO NOT own Harry Potter (I wish) and I only own the few characters I created (i.e. Holly,Jamie,Ebony, and professor Stewart, so far) I'd like to give a shout out to Mogselftof. ThankyouThankyouThankyou! What would I do without your help?; Die probably... haha I hope to be able to keep making longer chapters, because I like long chapters way more than short ones.:]) Btw sorry if you think the story is going very slowly... Its just more realistic that way:]**  
**Please review! I like feedback:] thanks**

**Again, I thank my wonderful BETA for fixing this chapter. :) Thank you so much , Smile Life Away!**


	3. Shocking Letters and Drunkenness

**Chapter Three- **

**Shocking Letters and drunkenness**

The past five weeks went similarly to what happened on the very first day. Yes, even Ebony getting angry at Umbridge, and taking it out of Trelawney every Monday. On the plus side, the rest of the week, her friends didn't have to suffer along side with her.

On a barely less negative note, Jamie and Holly continued their "war" and their pranks kept getting bigger and more outrageous. After Holly had painted Jamie's face, Jamie retaliated in a similar way. Jamie dyed Holly's hair into the silver and green of the Slytherins. Holly had been traumatized.

After that, Holly charmed all of Jamie's normal clothing so they would keep shrinking every time she tried to wear them. Jamie had ended up having to wear a very old and smelly robes all day.

Jamie wasn't sensible enough to at least leave Holly one terrible option, so Jamie got rid of _all _of Holly's clothes. If it weren't for Holly's nerve, she would've had to wait for a whole day in dormitory until she could get more clothes.

Needless to say, the boys had had a very pleasant shock when they saw a half-naked girl in a towel march down and eat at the Great Hall like nothing was wrong. All the boys nearly had heart-failure, and Ebony couldn't blame them. The pranks continued, every day for weeks until last week they both went a tad bit far. Holly got an embarrassing photo of Jamie, copied it by the thousands, until she had several very high stacks. The genius had decided it would be brilliant to post a photo everywhere in the castle, until an even better idea came to mind. She thought it would be better to put them _everywhere, _so not a single inch of stone wall can be seen. She had woken up early to do it and by the time people were waking up, her handiwork was done. On the very same day during breakfast, Jamie ignited fireworks. They weren't normal fireworks either. Jamie had somehow rigged them, so they would turn into Holly's face when she had had that one enormous pimple. It was_ not_ pretty.

The pranks had earned them week-long detentions, but they didn't mind much. They called a truce, so they could stay out of trouble until the week after their detentions. It was the first Hogsmeade weekend of the year and Ginny had invited them to some meeting thing. Apparently, the Golden Trio had organized it, so maybe Ebony and the girls would get to hear something interesting.

**xXXxXXxxXXxxXXxxXXxxXXxXXx**

Surprisingly, Jamie and Holly were able to stay out of trouble. Nobody, except the twins, missed their pranks. Everyone was more than happy to finally have one moment without something turning odd colors, or blowing up. It was refreshing.

"Hey Ginny, isn't the whole meeting thing at the Hog's head this weekend?", Ebony asked.

Ginny looked up from the Potions homework and said, "Yeah. I'll take you guys there.". Then she added with a look at Jamie and Holly, "I'm taking my boyfriend Michael with us, so please _try_ to be nice?" A couple weeks ago, Ginny had confessed to us that after the Yule Ball last year, her and Michael had hooked up. They had become a bit of an item after term started again.

Truth be told, none of the other girls really liked him. He was a bit clingy with Ginny, and wasn't a very good sportsman. He was a _very _sore loser when his House team lost a Quidditch match. To put it bluntly, he was an annoying prat. Jamie didn't bother to even hide the fact she hates him. She makes faces and complains loudly when she has to be near him. Holly hates him just as much as Jamie, but she keeps her comments to herself. Well, she did most of the time. Ebony was probably the only one, out of Ginny's friends, that _tried _to be cordial. Despite having the worst temper, she had a lot of patience. It took a lot to make her blow, but if you did, it would be best to run for the hills. She may not really dislike the boy as much as her friends, or maybe she's _really good_ at hiding it.

"Ugh! I _hate _that guy!", Jamie exclaimed. Ginny looked sadly at Jamie, "Can't you at least try? Try to like him? Try to even get to know him? He's an okay bloke...really!"

Holly and Jamie both gave her dubious looks. "We _have _tried Ginny... The guy is insufferable. You can't change him. He's naturally a prat. I've tried time and time again, and every time, he makes an arse of himself", Ebony finally said.

The girls all looked at Ebony with similar expressions of shock and confusion. "I thought you liked him Ebony?", Holly said confusedly. Ginny was still trying to figure out how to tell her eyes to pop back into their sockets, and her jaw to close. "No, but I _tried_ to be nice for Ginny's sake. Hate is a really strong word so i don't say i _hate_ him... I just really dislike him."

The girls nodded, and Ginny said, "Okay. Well nice to know you guys all hate him...I'll talk to him about how he is with you guys. He's perfectly friendly when its just me and him.."

"Maybe because you're busy snogging?", Holly offered. Ginny turned a delicate shade of pink and said, "Maybe... I'm still taking him to the meeting though, I'd feel bad about telling him 'no' now. Besides, Hermione told me to bring as much people as I could trust." Jamie and Holly shrugged and Ebony nodded. "I'm sure we can put up with him for the little while we'll have to spend with him..." Ginny's eyes widened and she grinned, " Thank you! Ebony... You know you're my favorite friend right?"

"I thought _I _was your favorite!", Jamie exclaimed. Holly giggled, "She never said you were her favorite. Ebony's _always _been the favorite, because she knows how to behave. I was never favorite because my healthy habits are 'annoying' and I muck around with you too much" Ginny giggled and enveloped her friends into a group hug.

**xXXXxxXXXxxXXXxxXXXxxXXXx**

"You guys! Over here!", Ginny exclaimed from where she was standing with Michael. They were already outside the castle waiting for the other girls. Michael was standing very close to Ginny, with an arm around her waist, and grinning like an idiot. No one knows how he could be so peppy when Jamie and Holly made it so obvious they detested him. Either he was in idiot and _was_ oblivious, or he chose to ignore it. No one will really ever know for sure.

The girls walked reluctantly towards the couple, and all five of them began walking towards Hogsmeade. Michael smiled and nodded in acknowledgement at the girls, and Ebony was the only one to say 'hello'. Holly bit her lip and scowled, and Jamie pretended to gag.

"I can't wait for the next Quidditch match," Jamie said loudly, successfully getting Michael's attention.

"I know me either!", he said. Jamie smirked, "I just hope you won't throw another hissy fit when Gryffindor beats Hufflepuff when they go head-to-head" Michael kept a blank face, but he already knew what she was talking about. He knew he got really angry when his team lost, but he didn't even try to fix it. Ginny raised an eyebrow at Jamie, but said nothing while she led the way to the Hog's Head.

They entered the shop and spotted some other people and followed them into a room where the Golden Trio sat. People were already sitting waiting for someone to say something. They went to the back of the room and waited for the last people to trickle into the small room.

Ebony was burning with curiosity, and she knew Jamie was too by the way she kept tapping her foot. She listened as the Hermione stuttered for the right words to say, and as Harry finally talked about his encounters with You-Know-Who and the Dark Arts. To put it mildly, it was amazing. Ebony knew that even if she wasn't told about all the amazing things he pulled off she would've tried to help him and the Golden trio as much as she could. Even if it meant joining an illegal club that could get her expelled, or in the least a _lot_of trouble. Her resolve to join this group was further strengthened when she realized they would be learning _real _Defense Against the Dark Arts, instead reading about the _theory_from that incompetent teacher. Part of the reason she wanted to wanted to join was out of pure spite for that hateful hag, Umbridge.

Ebony was one of the first to sign her name on the little sheet of paper Hermione passed out, making you an official member of the group. After a bit of squabbling the group was named "Dumbledore's Army", or the "DA" for short. After a bit more talking, everyone started trickling out of the room.

Ebony decided to head back to the castle and Jamie and Holly heartily agreed. Neither of them wanted to be stuck with Ginny and Michael being lovey-dovey.

"Ugh. Michael's a prat...", Jamie grumbled and Holly nodded in agreement. "Let's not have the mood dampened by that idiot. It's gonna be Ebony's birthday soon!", Holly said them addressed Ebony, "So? What do you want to do for your birthday?" Ebony tought for a minute then said, "Well, I don't really care, so don't go crazy. I just want to hang out with friends"

Holly nodded and let it drop, while Jamie exclaimed, "What? We _have _to do something for your birthday! It's already October fifth, and your birthday is the thirteenth!" When Ebony just shrugged Jamie huffed, but also let it drop. She grumbled something unintelligible and together they all kept walking up to the castle. Ebony knew that they were still a little hyped about the DA, and that by tomorrow they would be pestering her about her birthday again. She was more than willing to have at least one day of peace before they bombarded her about it again.

**xXXXxxXXXxxXXXxxXXXxxXXXx**

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

Ebony jumped, startled by the loud sound and all the people yelling in unison. It was finally her birthday and , sure, she loved it. You only turned sixteen once, after all. She stood dumb-struck for a couple seconds before she was enveloped into bear-hug from none other than Jamie. When every saw Jamie do it, they all followed suit. After a quick scan, Ebony found out that there wasn't as much people in the Common Room as she had first thought. There were still_ a lot_ of people. There were more people than Ebony was used to, and it was odd.

After a brief hug with George, and some furious blushing Ebony said, "It's _way_ to early for this... You couldn't let me sleep in on my birthday?". Ebony had been woken up and all but thrown out the dormitory by Holly. If it weren't for them, she would be sleeping comfortably in bed. A bed she really wanted to crawl back into.

"But its your _birthday_! You can't sleep through it all!", Holly exclaimed. Some other people in the common room whom overheard nodded in agreement. Ebony recognized them as some of their few Ravenclaw friends and wondered how they managed to sneak them past the Fat Lady's portrait.

"Says who? It's actually very easy to sleep through a birthday. You just don't wake up", Ebony said biting her lip. Biting her lip had become a bad habit of hers. If she got nervous or angry enough, she would sometimes actually draw blood. Her lips were always chapped and a little cracked.

"That's no fun, though. Imagine how lame it would be to _sleep_ through your _sixteenth _birthday! If we were muggles that would be, like, social suicide!", said Holly. Despite being pure-blooded, Holly had a thing for muggles. She had lived in America for ten years before she moved to England, and things were obviously different. It seems that purebloods over there weren't as die-hard about _staying _pureblooded. Most of them anyway.

"That's the thing, Holly, we're _not _muggles," Holly groaned, "Why are you so damn _stubborn? _You know you're psyched about being fifteen, so quit acting as if you aren't!" Ebony sighed, recognizing defeat, and said, "It is pretty awesome. Its just its odd seeing so much people when I only wanted to be with my closest friends. By the way how _did _you guys manage to sneak Revenclaws in here?"

Holly ignored her first question and was starting to answer the other when she was interrupted by Jamie.

"That was due to the twins and I. It wasn't too hard. We just made Violet come out of her portrait and get drunk with the Fat Lady. After that, getting them confused enough to open the hole to anyone who wasn't a Gryffindor wasn't too hard.", she said looking smug. Ebony stifled a giggle and looked at where the twins were. They were talking to another Gryffindor boy whose name she thought was Lee, probably getting more ideas for pranks.

"You guys are unbelievablly mad. Amazingly genius, but mad all the same.", she said shaking her head. Jamie shrugged and Holly shook her head, just as amazed as Ebony.

Then, without warning, Ebony's stomach growled. Jamie snickered, "You should go get something to eat, and afterwards you can get your birthday presents" Ebony blushed and she followed Jamie and Holly down to the Great Hall.

She ate in silence, and she welcomed it. Ebony knew that the sweet silence wouldn't last for very long. It didn't help her situation that it was a weekend and that meant no classes. She would be bombarded with noise all day without relent. It was, needless to say, a bummer.

Ebony was munching on a tiny loaf of bread when a large gray owl swooped in next to her. She recognized it as her family's owl, and she made to take the thick-looking envelope from the owl. The owl was hers, but she had recently sent them a letter and they had not replied. She had been waiting for them to reply, and get her owl back.

As soon as she undid the knot of string, tying the letter to the owl, he flew back out the way he came from. Ebony didn't mind much, Alec wasn't known for being very social.

Ebony looked at the envelope and back up at her friends. They had been busy, mocking other people and each other, to even notice the owl had come and gone. She looked back down at the envelope and felt that she shouldn't tell anyone about it. She would wait until she was alone to read it. It seemed too important-looking to open and read in public. She would have to find a way to sneak away from her friends after her impromptu party was in full-swing. Ebony folded the envelope neatly and put it into her pocket.

Acting like nothing was different, Ebony followed her friends back up into the Common room. As they walked through corridors Ebony noticed something was off. There seemed to be a lot of older-looking people. Some looked like they were fresh out of Hogwarts, while most were old and looked important. They were all headed on place, though, which was in the direction of the Headmaster's office. Perhaps he was having a type of meeting? Ebony wasn't that preoccupied as to the "_why"s_, but of of "how"s. How Dumbledore had managed to have so much people come in and out of the castle without having the evil hag-from-hell, Umbridge, was quite the feat.

As the girls walked into the already loud common room, they saw that almost everyone was helping to decorate it.

"Oi! Get her out of here!...", exclaimed Fred. "...The room's not ready for the birthday girl, yet", finished George. George gave Ebony a wink and his lop-sided grin as he ushered her back out of the common room.

"Why can't I be in there?", she asked. George grinned, "You're the birthday girl, and its a secret. You weren't supposed to come up at all, because we wanted it to be a surprise...Guess that failed". Ebony rose an eyebrow, but before she could comment he was gone behind the portrait hole.

Jamie and Holly had stayed behind to help out in the common room, so Ebony was left with some time alone. She reckoned she should use this time to read the letter, but she didn't want to read inside the castle where anyone could see. After a while of pondering, she decided on the tree by the Great Lake.

When she looked around she noticed nothing, but a big shaggy dog wandering aimlessly near the brush. She ignored it, and sat in her favorite spot next to the tree. Ebony liked this spot and loved just leaning against the tree and watching the scenery and everything in it. Sometimes it was an out-of-body experience. It was as if sometimes she was an outsider looking in, instead of living it there too. It was a really odd feeling, and it was simply amazing. The dog lied down, almost as if he understood the mood Ebony was in perfectly. It was quite eerie, really.

"You like this spot too, huh?", she said absently to the dog. The dog almost seemed to understand her, but Ebony muttered to herself, "Of course you can't... you're a dog. Oh my goodness... I'm talking to a _dog_." She breathed deeply and loudly, "I'm going crazy..." Then, seeming to remember something, Ebony reached into the pocket in her cloak and pulled out the folded envelope.

Ebony unfolded it and set it down on her lap. She just sat there and stared at it for a couple minutes until the curiosity got the better of her. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, while carefully tearing the top of the letter with her index finger. When she opened her eyes again and looked down at the letter in her hands, it opened reveal several pieces of parchment and some type of document. Ebony decided on reading the letter first. She kept a neutral face for most of the letter, but half-way through it and afterwards her face blanched and her mouth popped open with a little "pop". She almost started hyperventilating a couple times, and would only calm down after several minutes of breathing deeply and closing her eyes.

_Ebony,_

_You know you are our lovely little daughter? I want you to remember this throughout the rest of the contents in this letter. _

_Both your father and I love you very,very much and we love you like the daughter you have become to us. You realize, after years of living with us and being a great daughter, that I hate lies and deceptions. You, more than anyone else, can understand my hate for lies especially when I have to be the one to tell them._

_I've wanted to tell you for years, but we knew you were still much to young and would not be able to take in what we are about to tell you. _

_I don't know how to gently tell you, but I'm going to have to be blunt._

_You, my darling, are adopted. _

_Dustan and I were unable to concieve for years. We tried everything, until we were given adoption as an option. When we entered the orphanage, we saw plenty of other children. All were lovely little dears, but you were the one to win over our hearts._

_In just the hour we got to spend with you, you wrapped us around your little finger. You had just turned two. It was your second birthday in the orphange. The nurse, which took care of all of the children there, told us all she knew of why you were left in the orphanage. She couldn't tell us much, because she didn't know much._

_She had been changing the diaper of another child on the night you arrived, and when she turned around she saw you in a bundle of blankets and a letter tucked inside right inside the door. There was a note tucked in next to the letter saying your name Ebony Black, and instructions that the letter should only be given to you and you only. Your real surname is indeed Black, but we couldn't find out who it could've belonged to. Black was a very common surname in muggle England. I enclosed the letter that rightfully belongs to you, and I wish you the best of luck in finding your parents and your past before us._

_We understand if you are in pain, or if you hate us. You can hate us, scorn us, and never speak to us ever again and we will completely understand. It will break your our hearts, but we would never hold it against you. _

_No matter how old you get, finding out your parents aren't you biological parents cannot be easy. _

_You might think we are cowards for not telling you in person, and I feel like one. I had originally wanted to tell you face-to-face, but I don't think either of us could've handled it._

_We, your father and I, just want you to know that we really do love you. You are our little darling daughter, our pride and joy. If we hadn't found you and fallen in love with you, we would never have found out the wonders and happiness you gain from parenthood. _

_You were the best daughter we could've asked for. Sure, like all children, you had terrible tantrums and had occasional slips in behavior. With you, we learned what it was like to be parents. Something we were unable to do for years..._

_Just please never forget how much we love you..._

Ebony was already in tears by this point. Very confused and scared, she searched the contents of the other letter and the document. The document was proof of her adoption. It was all the legal stuff. Ebony was in a state of extreme shock. Things like this never happened to people. It only happened in cliched muggle soap operas, not in real life. She was still mulling over the contents of her real mother's letter when she noticed the dog scamper away and a pretty peppy red-head bound towards her.

"Ebony! It's time for...your... ...party", Ginny's words faltered as she took in Ebony's tear-streaked face still leaking bitter tears. "Are you okay?...Obviously not, you're crying...Do you want to talk about it? I'll listen", she asked. Ebony didn't say anything, but she didn't say no either, so Ginny sat down next to her.

"Its your birthday you shouldn't be crying on your birthday until you're in your late twenties" Ebony's lip turned upwards a little. She knew Ginny was trying to cheer her up and she really didn't want to be crying on her _birthday._

They sat there in silence for a couple more minutes until Ebony finally croaked, "My parents aren't really my...real parents." Ginny didn't say anything, so she continued, "I'm adopted. My real name is Ebony freaking _Black_! I'm probably the daughter of the crazy mass-murderer that somehow broke out of Azkaban two years ago... I was left in an orphanage most likely right after I was born, because spent my first two birthdays in there!" With every word her voice rose and became more frantic. It sounded more like she was telling herself more than she was Ginny. Ebony herself was trying to figure out and organize all the new information in a way that made sense.

Ginny stayed oddly silent when Ebony mentioned Sirius Black.

"Did you not _hear_ me? I'm illegitimate daughter of _Sirius Black_!", Ebony exclaimed not understanding Ginny's lack of response.

"Do you know this as a fact?", Ginny asked. Ebony all but threw the letter from her biological mother at Ginny. Ebony watched Ginny's reaction to the letter oddly. No doubt, there was shock, but also some type of curiosity. Ebony couldn't find out why, and she wasn't going to try to find out. She had enough problems on her plate without trying to figure out those of everyone else's. It wasn't being selfish, it was called having a hold on your own life.

If she couldn't even control her's how could she possibly keep up with everyone else's?

"Wow... So yeah... You're definitely Sirius Black's daughter. I have no idea who your mother could be..." Ginny looks at the letter again, "Its only signed with 'Love, Athena'... That's all the information on her..."

Nearby, the big black dog was sitting stiffly under all the brush near the tree. It hadn't needed to be too close, but it still heard the conversation perfectly clear. It climbed out of its hiding spot and walked with a trot towards the girls. Ebony's face visibly brightened at the sight of the dog, while Ginny slightly blanched. Ginny gave the dog an alarmed look while Ebony was preoccupied petting it. Sirius, in dog form, was more carefree. He heard the shocking conversation, and he knew that whomever this girl was, she needed cheering up. It must've been a great nasty shock finding out she was adopted _and _the biological daughter of an alleged "mass-murderer".

"What a sweet dog", Ebony said with a slight smile. She had always loved dogs for as long as she could remember. She had been greatly disappointed when they were not allowed to bring a dog as their pet to Hogwarts. "I wonder how it got here..", she wondered aloud.

"That's exactly what _I'm_ wondering too", said Ginny with a slightly cold and steely voice. The dog rolled one eye, and wagged his tail even more enthusiastically.

"You really like dogs don't you?", Ginny asked. Ebony's face brightened a tad bit from her gloomy one, "Yeah. I've always loved dogs more than any other animal. Cats are okay, but they get mad at you too easily for everything..."

They sat there for a few more minutes until the dog finally scampered away and Giny turned to Ebony, "You know... you don't have to stress yourself or force yourself to go to the party. I can just tell everyone that I couldn't find you..." Ebony looked up in surprise from her hands, "No! I have to go. You all spent all morning preparing this for me and I will go to it. I'll just have to bottle up everything for the time being..."

Ginny looked mutinous, so Ebony wiped at her face and started to back towards the castle.

"Fine... At least wash your face, though", Ginny said. Ebony walked up to the bank and leaned in close to the water, pulling her hair back as she dunked her face in it. The icy-cold water excited her senses and thoroughly woke her up. She took her face out of the water again and dried it off with her robe's shoulder.

"Let's go... My party is waiting", Ebony said breezily. She was still devastated and slightly horrified about what she had learned about herself, but she couldn't let it ruin her birthday. Ebony had the whole way from the Great Lake to the Gryffindor common room to mentally prepare herself for she would find in it.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, EBBY!", a very excited and loud Jamie yelled. Ebony put on a bright smile and laughed along with everyone else. Jamie, Holly, and a large amount of other people of whom Ebony wasn't quite sure she knew enveloped her into a group hug. "Haha. Thanks, everyone," George grinned, "Only two more years to be legal with muggles and one for our world. You excited?"

"Legal for what?", when realization hit her she gasped and her eyes widened. George guffawed and pulled her into a hug, "It was a joke..."

She playfully smacked his arm and giggled. If anything could successfully distract her from her woes it was George Weasley. Possibly the only person in her world that could do it so easily.

They stood there in a nice embrace for what seemed like ages to them until Ginny hastily pulled Ebony out. George shrugged and turned back to his friends while Ebony followed Ginny to a secluded corner.

Ginny began, "Okay, I don't want to be a kill-joy and ruin moods, but its about Sirius..." Right then Michael interrupted her by choosing that precise moment to pull her into a tight embrace full with snogging and dancing. Ebony was curious as to what Ginny had to say, but she _really _didn't want to think about her problems right now. If only there was some firewhiskey or muggle vodka...

**xXXXxxXXXxxXXXxxXXXx**

"George, _do _something!", Ginny screeched. She was holding a _very_ drunk Ebony in her arms, trying to keep her from stripping in public. "W-What do I _do?", _George stammered. He was used to drunk people, but a drunk _Ebony_ was just plain odd. Unheard of.

"WHO GAVE HER THE BOOZE?", thundered out an equally wasted Jamie. Ironic how she herself was drunk beyond imagination, but there she was trying to find out who got her friend in the slightly worse state. George helped Ginny pin Ebony's arms down to her sides while someone went to go get her some water. Luckily, the only people left in the room were close friends, or things could've gotten messy. By the time Holly came back with a water bottle, Ebony wasn't struggling with George and Ginny. She was staring dejectedly at the ceiling, "Haha...hic!... I'm drunk...", hiccuping and going into a violent fit of the giggles. Then out of nowhere she stopped laughing and looked almost sober, "You know... maybe I should find out I'm adopted and the biological daughter of a known mas-murderer more often... being drunk is...hic...fun...". With that she closed her eyes and fell asleep.

Everyone in the room were at a loss for words, well, all except Ginny. Jamie was knocked out, so of Ebony's friends, only Holly was really shocked. She had no idea what Ebony could've meant and it bugged her to no end.

"What... the hell?", Holly said. George let go of Ebony's arms and him, Fred, Ginny, and the Golden Trio exchanged odd glances.

"Holly, we're just as confused," George said with a pointed look at Ginny's guilty expression. "What?", Ginny said. George shrugged and turned back to Ebony, "So what do we do? We can't just leave her here..."

Ginny kneeled next to Ebony and with the help of George lifted her up onto the couch. "We'll have to leave her down here sleeping on the couch along with Jamie. It will be easier than trying to pull them up the staircase, so we will bring down a couple blankets and pillows for them." As if on cue, Holly bounded down the staircase steps with two blankets and two small pillows. She had gone up as soon as George wondered what they would do about Ebony.

"You seem to be used to this kind of thing...", a previously silent Harry said. Holly started at being addressed and then said, "Uh...Well yeah. Jamie is pretty uncontrollable sometimes, and something like this kind of _is _common to us now. How she manages with hangovers is beyond me, though" Harry nodded and continued to stare curiously at Ebony.

Could Ebony really be Sirius's daughter?, he thought to himself. Harry was already thoroughly confused, and thinking about this made everything much worse.

"You guys should go to bed... It's already really late", Ginny said to everyone else.

The boys said their "goodbye"s and "goodnight"s and headed up the boy's staircase while Hermione went up the girl's. Ginny and Holly stayed back for a couple more minutes preparing the makeshift beds for the two passed-out girls and then followed suit and went upstairs and to bed.

Everyone was too exhausted to talk about what had happened recently. Hell, everyone was too exhausted to even _think_ about it.

Whatever consequences, good or bad that Ebony's outburst earned, would be found out the next morning when people could think clearly.

* * *

**(A/N: Okay... SORRY it took SOOO long to update... I had visitors in the house and other people are very distracting... Also, I've been uber lazy and I apologize :[**

**I hope you enjoy this chapter... The plot thickens O.o...**

**Anyways... I'll try (from now on) to not take as long to update again(: **

**okay well please Review! I like feedback! Critique? (:**


	4. Hangovers and The DA

Chapter Four- Hangovers and the DA

"Ugh. What happened?" said very hung-over Ebony. She had woken up to the hustle and bustle of people coming in and out of the Common room. She rubbed her eyes groggily and looked around the room. To her near right, Jamie was still sleeping on the love seat in the same clothes she had worn last night. When Ebony looked down, she noticed she was too.

"Ah!" she groaned.

"Pounding head?" a voice right behind Ebony said. She whipped her head to the side so fast it made her head pound very painfully, "Ouch..."

She felt a firm hand push her back down onto the couch. "Stay. Try to move that fast again and you'll probably make yourself have an even worse headache than the one you already have" Ebony looked up and saw George grinning down and her with a small cup of some unknown potion.

"Here, drink this. It should help with the hangover," he said handing Ebony the cup. She eyed it suspiciously, "What is it?" She was startled by George laughing quietly and shaking his head. "Just drink it. I promise you'll feel a million times better" Ebony grunted quietly then mock-glared at George, "It better make me feel a million times better or I'll sue"

"What?"

"In the muggle world you can 'sue' in court which is basically a way to steal money from someone or a company in a way that is legal," George nodded, though he still didn't really know what she meant. There was an awkward silence as George just stood there, not quite knowing what to do or say, and Ebony sipping the potion while avoiding looking up at him. This had to be the worst most-awkward conversation, or non-conversation they had had thus far.

They both stayed like that for four excruciatingly long seconds until George looked behind him and said, "Umm. Well I should probably get back to Fred. He loves me so much he can't be away from me for too long. So, I'll see you again sometime?"

"Sure, and thanks for the potion I'm already feeling a lot better," With one last grin towards Ebony, George spun on his heel and all but ran up the boy's staircase, stealing another glance at Ebony before disappearing. Ebony blushed down into her cup of the potion George gave her, and was surprised that she really was feeling a tab bit better. She would have to ask him how he knew about the potion. She would ask him when she saw him again. Ebony blushed even harder and took another gulp of her potion.

"What happened yesterday?" she muttered to herself. Again, Ebony looked at the still sleeping Jamie and remembered it was Jamie who had given the liquor to her. Ebony had no idea how Jamie had even gotten a hold of the liquor, and knew it would be better not to know. Ebony vowed to never again get drunk in her life no matter the reason. She didn't bother to leave any more of the potion for Jamie, and got up off the couch slowly and cautiously. She knew she was being petty and immature, but Jamie was the reason she had had to deal with the terrible hangover in the first place. Ebony ignored the little part of her brain telling her she was partially responsible, and climbed up the steps to her dormitory.

She walked into the dormitory and went towards her bed. All the other beds were empty, so Holly and Ginny were probably already down in the Great Hall.

Ebony sat at the end of her bed and tried to remember the events from the day before. Yesterday had been her fifteenth birthday...

She stood up with a gasp and the move made her dizzy, and she almost lost her balance. Yesterday had been her birthday! She had received a letter... It had been a letter that she remembered being the worst thing ever in her fifteen years of living.

Ebony scrambled up on her bed, ignoring the vertigo it came with. She tried to find the letter from her mother and its contents. She searched in her trunk, under the mattress, under the bed, inside the pillow, inside the little crack on the bed's wooden frame. She searched everywhere, leaving her space in the dormitory very messy, but she had still failed to find the letter. Ebony groaned and lied down on the bed, but it ended up looking more like a collapse. As she let herself fall on the bed, a couple pieces of paper tumbled out of her robe's pocket. She let out a little gasp of surprise and hastily picked up the letters and re-read them.

The dread returned again after reading the letter from her "mother" again, but this time it wasn't as bad. As long as no one ever found out...

"Ugh! Ginny already knows!" she said remembering she had told Ginny.

"Ginny already knows what?"

Ebony started, and was half-way to her wand when she realized it was just Holly. "Oh it's just you..."

Holly grinned, "Nice to know you're enthusiastic to see me... So what's this about Ginny knowing something?"

Ebony discreetly hid the letters under the covers of her bed, and said as evenly as she could, "I was just surprised is all. I have a bit of a hangover and it's still getting to me even with some of George's potion. Oh, she already knew about my crush on him..."

Holly's bright blue eyes bulged, "I'm not surprised about the hangover, considering how drunk you were, but the George thing it new! Hey, maybe he likes you too considering how gentle he was when setting you on the couch" Ebony cringed because she didn't like lying to her friends and for the reminder of why she was so hung-over. Holly noticed the cringed and misunderstood it, "Oh! I'm talking too loud for you, huh? I'm so sorry! - Hey, I could bring you something to eat from the Great Hall, 'cause I doubt you can take the noise out there..."

Ebony felt really bad about the lie, but she didn't think she could handle the noise until the potion George gave her completely kicked in. She smiled faintly at Holly and received a small one in return.

Ebony pulled the letters out from under the covers, folded them neatly before placing them on the bedside-table, and tried to get dressed. She was in the process of changing her blouse when a very disgruntled Jamie stormed into the room and collapsed into her bed. Jamie was obviously having an even worse time with her hangover because she hadn't had any of George's magical "Hang-over- be-gone".

"Jay? You okay?"

"What? You're talking to loudly... Ugh! I swear it's like my brain is trying to pound its way out of my aching head!", Jamie whispered. Ebony immediately felt bad about not leaving Jamie any potion.

"Well, I know someone who could help you out with the hangover if you want it..." Ebony whispered as loudly as she dared. Jamie picked her head up from the bed and cocked it to the side to see Ebony, "Who?"

"George... He knows how to make a potion and helps out with the hangover a bit"

"Could...could you please ask him to make one, or something?" Jamie said letting her head fall back into the mattress, making her voice sound muffled. Ebony said she would and then after she finished putting on her uniform and some shoes, she walked down the staircase. She was feeling a lot better than before George had given her the potion, and was thankful for it. The common room was obnoxiously loud. No wonder Jamie woken up in such a bad mood.

She passed various students, all hanging out in the comforts of the common room, and walked with caution up the boy's staircase. She passed various doors until she reached the seventh year dorm. She looked down at her hand and was about to lift it up to knock when it was thrown open. Ebony was almost sent flying down the many steps, but a strong arm grabbed her hand before she could fall. The arm pulled her into the room and she ran into none other than George Weasley with his twin right next to him.

She looked up at George, who was just as shocked as she was.

"Why, hello there princess..." Fred said.

"Shut up, Fred..." Ebony said quite lamely. Ebony stayed in George's protective arms for a few second longer than was necessary until Fred coughed, alerting them both of how long they were hugging.

Ebony could feel the blush burning, "Umm... I just came to say thanks about the potion thing you gave me. I'm also on behalf of Jamie, whom also says she would appreciate some 'Hangover Be-Gone'..."

The twins grinned, "Hangover-"

"Be-Gone... I like it... We should really name it that George", Fred finished.

Ebony just stood there awkwardly, a little creeped out and awed by how in sync the twins were.

"We still have some, so I'll just give you some in a cup to give to Jamie", Fred said.

"Thanks Fred." Ebony always knew which twin was who; she was just weird like that.

Fred grinned, "Ha-ha. Seems you haven't lost your gift to be able to distinguish who we are... You know some-thing's wrong when a person you aren't related to can tell the differences between us better than our own mum can sometimes...Never ceases to creep me out"

Ebony felt another blush coming on, "Well, you might be almost identical, but you two still have your own differences. No two humans could ever be completely identical in every way."

She looked up and the twins were grinning impishly. She suddenly found her hands very interesting. Ebony looked up again and saw George handing her a small vial with the potion.

"Thank you, really", Ebony said earnestly at the two boys whom just grinned as she made her way towards the door. She put her hand on the handle when she cocked her head to the side and said, "How come you two don't have any dorm mates?"

The two twins laughed until Fred began, "We still have Lee, but the three of us scared off the other guy when we were in third year and now he sleeps with this year's fourth years-"

"- We traumatized him... He's never been the same since...", George finished.

Ebony's eyes widened in surprise, "What did you guys do to him?" The two boys fidgeted. Ebony sighed, "Never mind. I'm pretty sure now I don't really want to know," George stepped towards her, "You see..."

"...It wasn't our fault he left..."

"...He just couldn't handle a good joke..."

"..He always hated snakes..."

"...So, naturally we decided it would be funny if we turned his 'man junk'..."

".. Into a snake..."

Ebony burst into a fit of giggles; instantly feeling guilty and a tad bit sad for the boy that the twins had traumatized. She knew it was wrong and that having a snake replace your man parts should be traumatizing to any boy/man, but it was pretty funny in a sense.

After realizing she wasn't going to scold them, the twins laughed along with her. Then as if remembering something, Ebony said her goodbye hastily and walked out of the dormitory in a flustered manner and half-ran down the staircase. Without looking around the common room, she ran up the girl's staircase and into her dormitory.

She made a beeline to Jamie's bed and left the vial on top of her trunk at the foot of her bed and whispered in her ear, "I got the potion..." Jamie obviously had not been sleeping because she heard every word. Ebony went towards her bed, while Jamie gulped down the potion in the vial. She noticed a tray with a bit of food on the top of her trunk and smiled. Holly really was a sweetheart. Holly had gotten Ebony all of her favorite breakfast foods, which would have meant she would've had to ignore her very nature. Ebony's food was far from healthy, so Holly had to have really made an effort.

She made a mental note to thank Holly about this later and sat down on her bed. She reached out and picked out to pick up the tray to rest it on her lap, and took a bite out of a chocolate chip muffin. She saw the folded pieces of paper by her bed and dropped her muffin into the bowl of grapes which was probably the only "healthy" thing. Ebony hastily picked up the letters and stuffed them in her shoe. She didn't feel safe putting them anywhere else. Ebony looked nervously at Jamie, whom had not seen a thing. She was already in dreamland probably dreaming about something odd or some new prank she wanted to try out. How Jamie could sleep at any time during the day for long periods of time and still be able to sleep at night was beyond Ebony.

xXXXxxXXXxxXXXxxXXXx

"Harry, mate what do you reckon that Ebony girl meant about the 'mass murderer' part?" Ron said in a whisper. Harry really didn't want to think about what she had said, because that would mean she was his god-sister...or whatever.

"I dunno, Ron... Why don't you ask her when you see her," Harry didn't want to make it obvious that he himself was very curious and was still brooding over what Ebony had said, but he was curious and still brooding.

"Ron, just drop it. She was drunk beyond her wits!" Hermione cried out.

"Exactly! People yell tell the truth when they're drunk... That's just how it is", Ron countered.

Harry resisted the urge to sigh hearing his two best friends banter, "Shut it both of you... It's too much hearing you two at each other's throats so early in the day," Ron and Hermione both shut up, but continued the argument with their eyes. Harry didn't care if they still continued their little 'battle' as long as it wasn't verbal and it didn't distract him from his thoughts.

After the trio finished eating breakfast they made to walk out of the Great Hall and they noticed Holly putting a variety of foods onto a tray and carry it out of the Great Hall. It was especially unusual, because Holly was notorious for being a complete health freak. The only thing that could pass as healthy on that tray was a small bowl of grapes.

They walked out at the same time as she did, but all deemed it wise to not ask. Ginny's friends all had their weird quirks. Besides, she was probably getting the food for one or both of her friends that hadn't showed up in the Great Hall. That would explain the chocolate muffins...

"Oi, Harry!" Ron exclaimed while waving a hand in front of Harry's face.

"What?"

"You were spacing out there, mate..." Ron said then dropping his voice into a whisper, "When are we having the first DA lesson?" Harry started. He had sort of forgotten about the whole DA thing. Weird.

"Uh ... weren't we having it this Monday?"

Ron looked at Harry dumbly until realization dawned on him, "Oh right! Ha-ha. I can't believe I forgot about that..."

"I can't believe you forgot about it either, Ron", Hermione said curtly.

Harry ignored Hermione's remark at Ron's lapse of memory and focused on not running into anything solid on their way back to the Common room. He was thinking of how he would word his letter to Sirius so it wouldn't reveal anything unnecessary, but could still subtly hint at Ebony...

xXXXxxXXXxxXXXxxXXXx

"Ebony, you're a life saver", Holly said with a contented sigh as she leaned back on the couch in the Common room. Ebony looked up from her book that she was studying from, "What?"

"You managed to keep Jamie from killing everyone by giving her that potion thingy that kept her as sane as Jamie can be! The world is grateful to you"

Ebony flushed a light pink colour and grinned at her friend, "You'd have to thank George and Fred because they made the potion. I named it 'Hangover Be-Gone' and they seemed to like the name, so..." She closed her mouth and looked down at her book reading the same sentence again, but not really remembering what she read. Ebony didn't want to look up again, because she knew Holly would be giving her an obnoxiously knowing look and grinning like the maniac she is. She had rambled, and of George Weasley at that.

Holly was still giggling quietly and Ebony was making another futile attempt to study, when Ginny sat down next to Holly on the couch. She turned to Holly, "What's so funny?"

Holly grinned and looked at the back of Ebony's head and said bluntly, "She's just in denial and I'm having a kick at watching her reactions," Ginny knew it was best to ask if she wanted to know and got straight to the point, "Okay. Whatever. Anyway, both of you have to come tomorrow. We have another meeting tomorrow after classes, so don't forget"

"Sure, sure", Holly said very condescendingly.

"We'll be there", Ebony said without looking up from her textbook. Ginny nodded at them and went up the girl's staircase into their dormitory.

"Aren't you excited?", Holly said in bad attempt at whispering.

Ebony looked around nervously before answering, "Of course I am, but we shouldn't be talking about it right now- it's not very private. Anyone could hear if they wanted to," she added with a pointed look at a very small first year across the room.

Holly followed Ebony's glare towards the first year and shook her head while rolling her eyes.

"He didn't hear anything- Hey kid! Did you hear anything we just said?" The little first year, startled, dropped his books he had been struggling to hold onto. The kid shook his head with wide eyes, too frightened to speak.

"See? He didn't hear anything, so keep your hair on. Jeez", Holly muttered. Ebony rolled her eyes, but didn't say anything. She walked back up the girl's staircase, leaving Holly alone in the Common room, and dropped her books down on her bed. She looked towards Ginny's bed, where Ginny on the edge. Ginny had been waiting for Ebony, so she could talk to her. Ginny had not wanted to tell Harry until she at least had Ebony's consent. It wouldn't have been a good idea if she just went and told Harry before Ebony was ready to tell anyone else. Ebony wasn't particularly known for having a cool or calm temper.

"We need to talk", Ginny said before Ebony had time turn and head back out of the dormitory. Ebony took her sweet time to turn and composed her face into a blank, polite expression. She turned to Ginny and decided to pretend to not know what she meant, "Sorry?"

Ginny raised a red eyebrow, "Don't be daft, you know exactly what I'm talking about" Ebony looked at where Jamie lay crumpled in an array of blankets and pillows, obviously asleep. Ebony sighed in defeat and walked towards Ginny's bed.

"What? Are you going to pity me about being the daughter of the most infamous mass-murderer in both Wizarding and muggle worlds?" she asked warily.

Ginny looked horrified at Ebony's poor choice of words. If only Ebony knew the truth about that terrible night. Ginny took on an unreadable expression and said, "No, but I do want to talk about Sirius with you. He's not who you think he is. Sirius... Sirius didn't really kill all those muggles and Peter Pettigrew on the night James and Lily were betrayed." Ginny let what she had said sink in, but before Ebony could open her mouth and say anything else she interrupted.

"I need you to promise to never tell anyone what I'm about to tell you. Do you promise?"

"Y-yeah I promise,"Ebony said. She knew she didn't have much of a choice, and Ginny was keeping a big secret for her as well. An eye for an eye, she thought, so it's not too much for Ginny to ask.

Ginny took a big breath and made sure to cast a charm on the door of the dormitory to keep people from listening in. She didn't want Holly coming up and hearing their conversation from outside the door.

"Okay, first I want you to know that Sirius Black and James Potter were best friends since they were first years here at Hogwarts," When Ebony nodded, she went on, "When James and Lily had Harry, they made Sirius his godfather" Ginny paused again and when Ebony's eyes widened she continued.

"So? So Sirius Black is... Harry's...?" Ebony asked tentatively. Ginny nodded, "Yes. Sirius was also made their secret keeper when they went into hiding, but eventually he convinced them to make Peter the secret keeper. He thought You-Know-Who would expect him to be the secret keeper, and not have seen it coming if it was little Peter." Ginny had a little trouble saying the rest, "Sirius hated...hates himself because Peter told 'You-Know-Who' where the Potter family was... After, Sirius went after Peter and tried to kill him, but Peter framed Sirius by blowing up half of the block and cutting off his finger before disappearing. He faked his own death, so it made Sirius look bad."

"Wow... You said he disappeared, so he disapparated?"

"No, James and his friends had all become animagi during their school days. Peter's was a rat, so it wasn't that hard to slip out unnoticed.", Ginny said solemnly.

The two girls sat on Ginny's bed in a contemplative silence until Ebony broke it, "You talked about Sirius almost as if you knew him...Why is that?"

Ginny fidgeted under Ebony's unwavering stare and thought about how to answer.

"I...I do... He is Harry's godfather after all. Besides, how else do you think we heard the whole story?" Ebony's eyes widened. She had wondered at how Ginny knew what she knew, but it was still a shock to hear your friend you though you knew had been in close proximity of an alleged mass-murderer. She gasped out a quiet "wow" and tried to organize all the information she had received in a way that made sense. That in itself was not an easy task, in the least.

Ebony pulled out the letter from her shoe, ignoring Ginny's questioning stare. "I didn't feel comfortable leaving them anywhere else, where anyone could accidentally come across it and read it. Also, I don't want to burn them..."

Ginny nodded and Ebony looked over the letters seeing them in a new light. "It's ... all...so foreign to me. All this time, I had lived life in a stupid sheltered bubble, away from reality. A sucky metaphor, I know, but it;s how I feel. I've been lied to about this for my whole life by the people I thought were my real parents. My biological father was convicted as a mass-murderer, but really isn't. I have absolutely no idea if the mother than abandoned me is even alive!", said Ebony with her voice rising in pitch and anxiety with every word. A single tear rolled down Ebony's ivory-coloured skin, and she hastily wiped it off. She then vowed to not cry about this anymore, and especially not in public.

She closed her eyes and tried to stop her eyes from burning; threatening to spill more tears, and tried to slow her heart down to normal. Her eyes shut down even tighter when she felt Ginny wrap a reassuring arm around her shoulders. People often had the misconception that hugging helps a crying person. They had no idea how utterly wrong they were.

If anything, someone hugging you makes it that much harder to keep yourself from crying. It's like a way to encourage your tear ducts to produce and let out more tears.

The two friends sat there for what seemed like ages. Ebony cried until her eyes were red and puffy, and she had no more tears left. Ginny, like the good friend she is, sat there with her until she was feeling better.

"Better?" she asked Ebony.

Ebony shook her head, "No, but I can't keep crying about it. Crying isn't going to change things or even make them better...It's just as an old Jewish proverb goes... I do not wish for a lighter burden just broader shoulders..." Looking at Ginny's confused face she added, "Its saying that I don't wish for things to get easier, but I just want to be strong enough to be able to bear everything"

"Oh. Well, that would make sense," Ebony nodded at Ginny and made to get up towards to go clean her face when the door opened to let in Holly. Holly took in Ebony and Ginny's similar sombre expressions and Ebony's tear-stained cheeks.

"What happened?", she asked Ebony. When Ebony ignored her question and proceeded to go to washroom to clean her face, Holly turned to Ginny with a confused expression. Ginny gave her a barely perceptible shake of the head and a look that clearly said, "Don't ask".

Holly did as she was told and went towards her bed and took out her Potions book. She figured if she wasn't going to be told what was happening and Jamie was asleep, she might as well catch up to all the homework they had. Professor Snape wasn't too bad to their year, but he wouldn't hesitate to deduct a ridiculous amount of points off Gryffindor just because someone didn't do their assignment. Ginny followed her example and started working on her Transfiguration assignment.

Ebony didn't return until awhile later, looking like she had not been crying only minutes ago. She avoided looking at her friends and sat herself on her bed and tried to do her homework as well.

Trying to focus on anything other than the conversation her and Ginny had just had was like trying to make Snape use shampoo, simply useless and futile. Ebony gave up on the Charms assignment and changed into a sleeping gown and climbed into bed.

"G'night Holly...Ginny", she said before shutting the curtains around her bed and resting her head on the comfortable pillow and closing her eyes to sleep.

xXXXxxXXXxxXXXxxXXXx

Ebony did not wake up in a good mood. In fact, the only one who didn't seem plagued with any worry was Jamie. Ebony was worried for obvious reasons, and also the fact she had to face Umbridge today again. Ginny was worried for Ebony's predicament and on how her friend would handle Umbridge. Holly was hell-bent on believing that Ebony and Ginny were hiding something important from her and Jamie.

Despite the fact that the three girls all were worried over different things, they all felt like there was now a rift between the four friends. Ebony and Ginny were obviously closer than ever with the Golden Trio. Holly wasn't in the know, but she wasn't as clueless as Jamie. She still knew that something was up and she wanted to know. She would interrogate them both after the DA meeting tonight.

The quartet each got up from the Gryffindor table in sync, and walked towards their first class. Arithmancy was calm, much to Professor Stewart's glee. Soon it was time for Defense against the Dark Arts. It was the class everyone, even Jamie, was dreading the most.

When they took their usual seats in the back of the room, they didn't even bother to take out their wands out anymore. Umbridge told the select few that had been hopeful enough to take them out, that we wouldn't need them in the lesson that day. Typical.

Ebony was wearing the usual blank, neutral-as-possible expression when she's in this class, and stared at her DADA textbook. Ebony was set on staying out of sight for the whole day. She didn't want to call any more attention to herself than what was necessary. She knew she was being paranoid, and that thinking that people would know her secret when they saw her was childish. She was relieved when all that happened that lesson was Umbridge send her the occasional sneer, but had not called her out again.

The day progressed as smoothly as any day in Hogwarts can, and soon they were walking out of their Divination class heading towards the Gryffindor common room. Together and silently, they walked back down to the Great Hall for dinner. They sat uncharacteristically closer to the Golden Trio and ate in silence. The only one whom acted remotely normal was Jamie, who was talking to Fred animatedly about a prank that involved a lot of dungbombs, vinegar, and feathers.

The Trio, Ebony and Ginny were all giving each other shifty glances that they thought no one else noticed. Of course, anyone who cared noticed, but they didn't call them out on it. Their friends were used to their odd-ness. It was just a known fact that the trio, Ginny, and Ebony were odd folk. It was nothing new.

After dinner was done, and Dumbledore had dismissed them all, everything went normally. Everyone went to their respective common rooms, but as soon as everyone was settled several from three different houses sneaked out of their common rooms and all met on one floor. On that floor they found Harry and the rest of the golden trio standing in front of a large, intricate-looking door and were ushered into an amazing room with mirrors along the walls. It had a couple bookshelves of books, mostly for Hermione's benefit, and a scary-looking dummy thing. It was in the shape of a very ugly dummy of a Death Eater.

Some people, mainly Jamie, found it ironic that it was a dummy of a Death Eater. She had a logic that anyone who would willingly follow that megalomaniac, Voldemort, would have to be either insane or very idiotic. They would have to be very idiotic or maybe have a death wish.

Everyone greeted Harry in unison and Harry began, "I figured we should start with stun, disarming, and defensive spells for the first lesson..." Harry was then rudely interrupted by Zacharias Smith making, once again, and arse out of himself.

As Ebony expected, no one agreed with the git, and Ron looked about ready to hex him into oblivion.

"Shut up and quit making a bigger arse out of yourself, Smith, and let the man teach", Jamie exclaimed, much to Harry's gratitude. The twins grinned in appreciation, as did almost everyone else in the room. Harry continued and began reviewing the spells that they were going to practice that day. They all started with the disarming spell _Expelliarmus_.

When Zacharias tried to belittle Harry again about the spell, he was shut up by Harry saying something about using it against Voldemort last year during the third task of the Triwizard Tournament. That sure shut Zacharias up.

Ebony thought Harry had done a good job in choosing that spell first, because some people were having trouble with it. If people couldn't get by that simple spell, it would be terribly difficult to get them to accomplish the harder spells. She had to admire the logic behind the choice.

At some point in the lesson they had to pair up. Ebony, since Ginny was with Michael, chose some random Hufflepuff that was friends with Michael. While they were practicing the disarming spell, she had the feeling he had let her disarm him first. Quite frankly, it bugged her to no end. Sure, the guy was pretty cute, but she already liked someone a lot. Ebony scowled at the boy's attempts at flirting with her, and distracted herself by watching the twins. Instead of practicing on each other, as they were instructed to, they were taking turns to disarm Smith before he had time to even lift his wand.

She giggled into her free hand and while she was very distracted she was hit by a disarming spell, which sent her wand flying. She looked at the Hufflepuff incredulously - she had totally forgotten about him.

Perhaps he had noticed her staring unabashedly at the twins?

Ebony retaliated by sending him a well-aimed disarming spell at him, when he gave her wand back.

The whole lesson went by in a similar manner, with Jamie and Holly bickering the whole time. It really was almost as amusing as Fred and George's. Pretty soon, it was time to go. As everyone else eased their way out of the strange room, Ebony and Ginny stayed back. Ginny got a hold on Harry's shoulder and sent Hermione a significant look, so when Ron tried to stay back she would know to not let him.

"We need to talk to you, Harry", Ginny said.

"Yeah, sure. About what?", he replied. The two girls looked at each other and took deep breaths.

"It's... about... Sirius", Ebony finally said. "Don't worry I know he isn't bad...", she added when she saw realization and fear flit across his face. Ebony saw him relax slightly, and Ginny went on.

"Harry, I'm pretty sure you already know by now that Ebony is in fact Sirius's daughter. I know that you somehow put two and two together..."

"So, it's really true?" he said after a while. Ebony looked at him, eyes unwavering when she said, "Yeah. It's all true and I've come to terms with it. That's what me and Ginny came to talk to you about." When Harry didn't answer, she continued. "Also, I think I want to meet him."

"Wow, this is new. You didn't even tell me..." Ginny said after she regained composure. Ebony sent her a pleading look, "I couldn't, because I just realized it myself,"

"No, it's okay. I think I could arrange for you to meet him. I doubt Sirius would mind, anyway." He added to himself as an afterthought. Ebony's face brightened, while Ginny's became suspicious.

"What did you do, Harry?"

When Harry didn't say anything she said a little louder, "What did you do, Harry James Potter?"

Harry fidgeted uncomfortably and replied, "I sort of already sent Sirius a letter about you, Ebony"

Ebony's face blanched from shock, "What?"

(A/N: Haha Don't you just love cliffies?

Sorry about the delay. I had absolutely no time to write for the past week(s), and that accompanied by laziness is NOT a good mix. Anyway, sorry about the really long A/N I don't like long ones either. They're annoying.)


	5. Of Secrets and Hypocrisy

**Chapter Five-**

**Of Secrets and Hypocrisy**

**Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place. 6:30 p.m.**

Sirius had returned to his house from the impromptu meeting for the Order yesterday. He couldn't understand what came into Dumbledore to want to do something so dangerous when the Ministry had so much control over the school. It was simply mad.

Before his unfair imprisonment in Azkaban, he might've found the danger thrilling, but he had been forced to mature. He had possibly had one of the worst wake-up-calls of the century. The pain of being betrayed by a once close friend, the betrayal of which causes the death of two of his closest friends, still haunted him.

Peter betrayed James and Lily, and in extension him, by telling Voldemort where the couple hid with their son, Harry. Peter had staged his own death that night, framing Sirius in the process. Somehow, the ministry failed to give Sirius a trial and just chucked him in the maximum-security prison. Twelve years slowly rotting in a cell, would invariably make you mature.

During Harry's third year, Harry had helped Sirius escape the Ministry, and Sirius had been in hiding ever since.

Even after all those years, Sirius doubted he had gone too much farther on his road to recovery than he had been twelve or ten years ago. The damage of such a betrayal was irrevocable.

Try as he might, he would possibly never completely get over the pain. Survive; live around it, perhaps he could do, but he would never get over it completely. He could feign to look and feel normal when people were around, but right now he was alone. Sirius couldn't and wouldn't keep up such a farce, which drained his energies, when he was alone. He paced the length of his room in Grimmauld Place.

He shook his head, trying to think of something less depressing. Immediately his thoughts, once again, turned to the vaguely familiar girl from the Hogwarts grounds. He couldn't get the girl and her conversation with Ginny out of his mind.

His meeting with her had been of the most peculiar sorts. He was the only person to have escaped the prison, Azkaban, so she had to have been talking about him. Yet, he couldn't remember of ever being a father. None of his relationships had ever lasted long enough. Only one lasted for any amount of time. He never had found it very appealing to be tied down to one girl at the time. It was that same dislike of commitment that had gotten him in trouble with one of the few people he truly ever cared for. Like the trouble he caused with one of his favourite persons. Regrets. Sirius had enough regrets to last him two lifetimes. He regretted most how he handled a situation that ruined his only chance at a proper relationship, and possibly torn two sisters apart. Sirius groaned, at what he had done to Athena, his ex-lover, and her sister Marianne.

A shock not unlike a surge of electricity surged through his being then, accompanied by the startling shock of realization. Athena.

He stood there, paralyzed, and unable to will his limbs to work. Athena had been the one girl to whom he would've handed his heart to without hesitation, but after a good couple of years she disappeared without a trace. Could she have just left, even while she bore his child? "That would explain a lot..." he muttered to himself.

He vaguely remembered fuzzy images of the girl/woman. He realized then, that Athena must have placed a charm similar to Obliviate on him. His suspicions were confirmed when he tried to conjure more images of the girl in his mind, and he was unable to. Despite the fact that he could not really remember her face, he remembered her now. How could he have let himself forget? She had misunderstood, and just packed up and left. How could she?

Another emotion dominated Sirius. It was a mixture of grief, anger, self-pity, and any self-deprecating feeling. Thirteen years' worth.

He stood, dumbstruck, staring at his posters on the wall without really seeing them.

It was then that an owl, Sirius recognized as Harry's, was waiting outside of his window to his room. He mentally shook himself, and went to the window to let the owl in. Hedwig swooped in elegantly into his room and landed on the chair next to his study. Hedwig stuck out a leg that had a letter tied around it, and waited for Sirius to untie it.

Sirius did just that, and unrolled the piece of parchment with Harry's impatient scrawl. Temporarily forgetting his own woes, he read the letter. It read:

_Dear Snuffles,_

_I do not want to reveal too much should this letter be intercepted and seen by the wrong eyes._

_I know, that no one could possibly guess about whom I speak, so I will say it bluntly._

_I have a friend, of who knows more about you than anyone else, other than us. She has most likely already been told of your innocence, but I do not know if she accepts it. I hope you will not panic, because she has more ties to you than you might know._

_Awaiting a reply, Harry_

The letter was short and confusing to Sirius. Surely, Harry had had been talking about someone knowing of his innocence relating to his unfair conviction and condemnation. The only person, of whom he could imagine had found out, would be the girl. His daughter.

The word sent a thrill that twisted in his gut and another, unknown feeling swell in his chest. The girl was his and Athena's daughter. She was their daughter!

The thought/word inspired more questions, questions which made his brain hurt just thinking about them. From what he had gathered in her and Ginny's conversation, she had been adopted. Why had she been abandoned at an orphanage, and a muggle one at that? Was Athena already dead? If she was, why wasn't she in the care of Athena's sister, Marianne? Had Athena ceased communication with Marianne as well? Was she really that petty?

Nonetheless, he picked up a quill and parchment, and responded to Harry's letter. He just hoped Harry would catch the hint, and that his daughter would agree to meet him. Sirius was all but sure that she would decline and he certainly wouldn't blame her if she did.

**Room Of Requirement at Hogwarts. 8:45 p.m.**

Ebony paced around and around the Room Of Requirement, unable to form any type of coherent speech. Ginny was in a similar state of shock, but concealed it much better. "W-what?" she stammered. "H-how? I...Why?" Ebony had just been told, by Harry, that he had already talked to Sirius about her. Imagine what kind of nasty shock that would be to hear.

Harry, knowing she was asking rhetorical questions, stayed silent. He was not in the particular mood to be decapitated by the younger girl before he could slay the megalomaniac, Voldemort. Ginny was the first to regain her wits. She waited for Ebony to waste her energy sputtering nonsense and calm down exponentially, so she could talk and be heard. However, right as she opened her mouth to speak, Harry interrupted.

"I-I didn't tell him about you being his daughter in case you were wondering. All I said was that a friend of mine knew about his innocence. I don't know if he knows about your relation, but it's very possible he does. If he didn't, I don't think he would offer to meet you."

An emotion Harry could not place flashed in Ebony's stormy grey eyes. They were so close to Sirius' shade of grey that Harry was in kind of trance just staring into them.

"What?" Ebony all but screeched at Harry, successfully tearing him away from his trance-like state. Ebony shook her head, dumbstruck.

Ginny silently excused herself from the Room Of Requirement, leaving the two all alone.

When she exited the room and turned a corner she ran into a lean, toned body. She felt her face get slashed by thin whip-like blond hair. Ginny looked up into Holly's face and noticed her eyes blazing with an unfathomable expression.

"I know you guys are hiding something from Jamie and me" Holly grabbed Ginny's forearm.

Ginny fought to keep her face perfectly neutral, and feigned ignorance. She said, "I don't know what you're talking about, Olly-pop", all while wrenching her arm free of Holly's vice-like grip.

Holly made a sound that was eerily similar to a cat's hiss.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about, so don't even try to get out of telling me", she said in her distinctly American accent. Holly had moved to England on her eleventh birthday due to some family problems of which she would not enlighten her friends upon.

Ginny stared back into Holly's eyes with her own chocolate-coloured orbs. "Holly, you know better than I, that there are some things you can't just say to anyone. It isn't my secret to tell. Also, some secrets aren't meant to ever be told," With that said, Ginny pushed past Holly and walked away from her, and avoided the general direction to the Gryffindor Common Room.

After having her suspicions confirmed, Holly stood stock-still, unable to move her limbs. Ebony and Ginny were doing something behind her and Jamie's backs. Did Ebony and Ginny not find them trustworthy enough?

She was only vaguely aware of the tears threatening to spill. She breathed in short, raspy breaths and just stood there for what seemed like ages. Holly recovered her wits in a couple minutes and with a new vigour turned and stormed up to the Common Rooms, fighting back the tears all the way.

She needed Jamie, and she needed her now.

People wondered wherever the girls stormed the halls, of what could have possibly happened to them. Their friendship had been almost as epic as the Trio's. The Golden Trio had been rumoured to have done a great many things, all of which were amazing. The quartet of friends had always done everything together. Now, their friendships were split in half. Holly didn't know if they were even a quartet, anymore.

Wherever the girls walked by, they were accompanied by false sympathies and obnoxious questions like, 'How are you', which they ignored.

Ginny and Holly, might have disagreed plenty of times before, but they both agreed that their friendship was about to have the greatest test; If it was still in existence. Something, of which, neither girl knew.

**Room of Requirement, 8:50 p.m.**

Back in the Room of Requirement Ebony had calmed somewhat and was listening to Harry try to redeem himself.

"I swear I never told him anything else about you, so I don't..."

"Shut up, okay. I'm not mad at you. I was just caught off guard, is all." she interrupted Harry, fed up. She gave him a reassuring smile, hoping he would abandon his need to make amends.

She had been forced to listen to him rant about the same thing for the past five minutes, and she was growing weary of it. "Okay, I was a little mad, but I'm not anymore. I do want to meet my...father."

Relieved, Harry said he would tell Sirius as soon as possible.

Sighing in relief, Ebony looked around the room. "Where is Ginny? She was here, like, five minutes ago?" she said, noticing the red-head's absence. Harry shrugged, "I dunno. She probably got tired of us."

Ebony nodded, "Probably", she said not entirely convinced. Ebony and The-Boy-Who-Lived stood there awkwardly, neither knowing what to do or say.

Finally, Harry got the guts to say, "We should probably head back out. It's almost time for curfew..." Ebony nodded overly-enthusiastically, and followed him out of the room.

**4th year Girl's Dormitory. Jamie's POV**

After the first DA lesson, taught by Harry, I made my way out of the weird room and went straight to the Gryffindor Common Room. The lesson had been alright. I just hope they'll get better, because I'm in dire need of more distractions.

As much as I love my friends, I need my own "me time", too.

With that in mind, I didn't even stop to wait for Holly, Ginny, or Ebony. A girl can only take so much at a time. I need a distraction that can make me not care about the secrets and lies. It's funny how the closer the friends are, the more secrets there are. I can't even begin to count how much secrets I've learned about the other three girls. Holly, had been sexually abused by her father when she was younger. Apparently, her mother had known, but didn't ever try to help her. When authorities found out, she was taken from her abusive family, and was later adopted by a British family. That's how she ended up moving the England. As much as she tried to heal herself, she never really recovered from the trauma. I can't blame her, though. How can you recover from something like that?

Ginny, as much as she tries to deny it, is still hopelessly smitten with Harry. I have no doubt in my mind, that if he were to reciprocate her feelings, she would ditch Michael faster than you could say "Infidelity". Not that I would mind never having to see "dear" Michael ever again. Ebony is the one of my friends, that until recently, I knew very little. She has, or should I say had, no skeletons in her closet. At least, she had nothing of great importance. Ebony's crush on George hardly counted, because it's so bloody obvious. Also, saying you finished your homework when you didn't hardly counts as big, or important. Poor, sweet, lovely Ebony.

Well, now I know a big secret that revolves around our sweet, little Ebony. Care to find out how I know it?

You see, my dorm-mates seem to have come to the conclusion that I am a deep sleeper, when the opposite is true. In fact, I'm a very light sleeper. Caught you by surprise didn't it?

I don't really know why I act as if I could sleep through any situation. It's just easier to ignore people, I guess. I do it for the same reason why I drink, too. Also, people tend to be sensible enough to leave someone who is sleeping well enough alone. People wouldn't be quite accepting of either…

Having friends like mine, being able to wallow in my own thoughts peacefully, is a rare and precious occurrence. I relish every second I have of peace. Not that it ever really lasts.

Anyway, back to how I found out Ebony's secret. While recovering from a terrible hangover, I lay in bed trying to will the splitting headache away.

I heard the door open and the light shuffling of footsteps that probably belonged to either Ginny, or Ebony. Preferring to ignore her entrance, I stayed immobile and tried to get some shut-eye.

Typically, fate wouldn't let that happen. Only ten or twenty minutes after the first entrance of someone, the door opened again to let someone else in.

"We need to talk..." I heard Ginny's voice say. Then, I heard Ebony's voice say something. I don't really remember what, because the potion Ebony had given me made me stuck in some kind of limbo. I wasn't really asleep, but neither was I awake. Perhaps it was some weird side-effect it had on me.

I listened, tuning in-and-out of their conversation, to them talk about Ebony, Sirius Black, and something about a letter. He was an alleged mass-murderer that had killed his three best friends and twelve other muggles, before being caught and taken to Azkaban. He had escaped during our second year, and the Ministry still hasn't caught him. The man's got skills to be able to evade the Ministry for two whole years.

So, Ebony was his daughter? She had been abandoned at an orphanage. Sirius was Harry's godfather, making Ebony his god-sister? Ginny was friends with the said framed mass-murderer. Sirius Black wasn't even guilty and a corrupted Ministry? I listened as Ebony cried into Ginny's shoulder.

It was amazing that I had learned so many secrets all at once. Not to mention, big and dark secrets.

To make things better, or worse, Holly entered a couple minutes after Ebony finally calmed down. She had stressed over how she was feeling, and was given a cold answer. I know, better than anyone, that Holly would be able to piece two and two together, given the right information. Holly was probably already very suspicious of the two girls, and being rebuffed so rudely will only make that spark of suspicion ignite into an all-consuming flame.

Sure, I love my friends, even if they aren't really mine. I just get tired of putting up charades, sometimes

My whole life, or the life other people think I have, is a farce. A charade, if you will. I know a great many people's secrets, but none know of mine. Ironic, isn't it? Isn't it ironic how the person who knows everyone's darkest secrets, has the most secrets of her own? Ha! I guess I'm just an ironic person, whom can appreciate the wonder of irony. Wonderful.

The fates really do hate me, don't they? As a great deal of hypocrisy, on my part, I like knowing what was going on, but refuse to let anyone know my skeletons. Really rich, isn't it?

I guess you could also say I have a very twisted logic. At least it's a form of logic, though... That's more than I can say for a lot of other people, whom lack any form of logic. I really need to stop contradicting myself. Bloody hell.

I groaned, and let myself collapse onto my bed, not really remembering how I got there. I'm not always very aware of my surroundings when I'm in thought. That's definitely something to work on. No matter, though, I've already found a resolve. I'm not about to lose the chance to breathe fresh air and live a life. Not even knowing the life I'm living isn't mine, can stop me now.

Having a life, no matter how idle or monotonous, is better than living as a shadow. That comes from someone with experience...me.

A Week Later...Holly's POV

Okay, I'm not exactly sure how, but the friendship between us four is over. Okay, so I know exactly how it happened, but it's still a shock. It never occurred to me that Ginny would not tell me anything, and I guess I sort of overreacted. I'm a bitch, I know. I was currently sitting-alone- in one of the chairs in the common room, trying to study. I let my head fall with a bang unto the table, and I just stayed like that for a while. I brought my knees up into the chair, hugged them to myself, and laid my head on them. I sighed, "I'm a hypocrite, aren't I?"

"For what?" I picked my head up and turned it to the side so fast, I felt something pop. I had not expected a response to a question directed to myself.

Jamie kept looking at me, waiting for an answer. "Oh. It's just you, and you know exactly what I'm talking about... I haven't told them of mine, but I expect them to tell me theirs. That's hypocrisy if I've ever seen it."

"Ah, but... aren't we all?" Jamie's words got me thinking. We all really are hypocrites, whether it be over something small or large. We just are. Being human sucks, doesn't it? We're all so insane and maybe being able to think for you own isn't much of a good thing. Things like child abuse happen. Bad things happen to good people, and there's nothing we can do about it. Ugh. I bet I sound like one of those really annoying, whiny whiners. Yuck!

I got up off the chair, and went back up the common room. It was a Wednesday and I needed a run. I grabbed some running shorts, a hair-tie, a pair of sneakers, and left without a glance at my ex-best friends. I slipped the shorts on underneath my skirt. I kicked my low Mary-Jane's off and pulled on the sneakers, and pulled my hair back into a pony-tail. I did that all without breaking stride. I guess doing the same thing for four years, gives you chances to master it.

I passed by Jamie, whom was still lounging on the loveseat, and said, "I'm going for a run. I'll be back in an hour, or longer. It depends on how fast I get tired..." I didn't even stop to hear what she said, I just walked out. I tread carefully from then on. I'm used to having late-night runs, but I'm still careful. It wouldn't be fun to have my run postponed all because I was careless.

Like usual, I was able to avoid detection and not run into any prefects. I breathed a sigh of relief- a breath I hadn't even known I was holding- when I made it out of the door to the grounds. It still surprises me how silently the thing opens.

The air was cooler, and crisp. I guess it's to be expected since it's almost November. I did my usual warm-up stretch and started a comfortable jog. I still needed to warm up some more before I could sprint outright. I let myself run faster and faster around the grounds until i was sprinting full speed. I only allowed my mind to think of nothing else but the nice ache in my limbs, and the ground beneath my feet. My brain was barely receiving enough oxygen, and my throat was dry and scratched. I loved it.

I bet you're wondering why I run so much, or why I'm a "health freak". I don't work-out and eat right just because I want to be healthy. Hell, I miss junk-food sometimes. No, I do it because It's the only way I know how to keep myself clean. Junk-food contaminates your body. I know how terrible it is to feel like you're nothing more important than trash. I don't really know what happened to that man, nor do I really want to. I just hate how he robbed me of my childhood innocence. I've never claimed to hate anyone. That's too strong of a word, but I truly hate him. I hate him so much.

I don't particularly like that woman either. She didn't even try to help me when she found out what he did to me. Instead, she turned a blind eye. I know it's not healthy in any way to be bitter or constantly angry, but I refuse to acknowledge either of them as my biological parents. They're dead to me, wherever they are.

I might not have been very old, yet, but I was old enough to know what they did to me was unacceptable. Yet, what could I do? I'm just a child. How could I possibly fend against two full-grown adults? I guess I just got lucky they were muggles, so it wasn't impossibly for the government to find out. I'm lucky that I wasn't lost in the system when I was taken into the government's custody. I was luckier when I was adopted by two great pureblood wizards that had been unable to conceive. Again, I was luckier that I ended up a witch, too.

My first few years of life sucked badly, but it's gotten better since then. It's significantly better. Those two wronged me in a way that is unforgivable and can't make amends for, but things turned out for the better. I think...

I ran until my muscles hurt and felt like they were going to rip apart. I do this every single time I feel stressed, or just feel like not thinking. I can't think of my past or anything that triggers bad memories without getting considerably sadder. It's pathetic, I know. I've already made it quite clear I'm a whiner, a hypocrite, broken goods, and simply pathetic. It's sad isn't it?

Anyway, I'm sure everyone has had enough of my mopey whines. I know I am tired of myself…

I walked slowly, with my arms above my head, and tried to slow my breathing. I didn't know how long I had been running, but it was a lot darker out than before.

When I felt my breathing was under control again, I made my way back up to the castle.

I don't know when things will get better with my friends, but I hope they get better soon...Ugh! I shouldn't even be thinking about that...Now, instead of trying to think, I just concentrate on not running into anybody and making my legs work. It was easier than trying to figure out what to do, or how my friendships were crumbling. I missed Ebony. I missed Ginny. But I especially missed the four of us together…

(A/N: Sorry about the really short chapter...=/ I felt this would be more of a filler chapter... Show you a bit more about Jamie and Holly.

It's okay to hate me about what I did! I'm Sorry! I just really needed to do it. This was surprisingly hard to write=/ VaneBEAR (:


	6. Of Flirts,more lies, and Family Reunions

**Chapter Six-**

**Of Flirts, more lies, and Family Reunions.**

Ebony awoke on the day before they were dismissed for Christmas break by a very flustered McGonagall ushering Ginny out of the dorm room. They were out of the room much too quickly for Ebony's tired eyes to follow. So fast, it looked to Ebony, that she thought she imagined it all. On top of not believing what she had seen, she was still half in dreams to even get her mind to make it sensical. So she went back into blissfully calm sleep.

She truly woke up again when the sun was up and shining outside. Jamie and Holly were absent from the dorm, and she figured they were probably already ready to go. Looking down at her bed with horror, Ebony realized she had not packed a single thing. They were leaving soon; _today! _She shoved her trunk open, none too gently, and started stuffing whatever muggle clothing she owned into it.

A couple of minutes later, after lots of flying clothing and scurrying around, Ebony was finally ready to go. She walked past the empty corridors, rode a carriage with complete strangers, and boarded the train without seeing a trace of any of her friends.

Boarding the Hogwarts Express back home, even for a break, without her friends was odd to her. It felt wrong. She walked past compartment after compartment, unable to find one that wasn't already full. She saw groups of close-knit friends, not unlike the way she and her friends used to be, laughing at inside jokes. It made her feel sad nostalgia for how things used to be. Just a couple months ago, she had been the same. If she tried to sit with Jamie or Holly now, she would probably get kicked out.

After several minutes of failing to find one, Ebony was becoming more worried of not finding a compartment at all. She was about to give up looking for one altogether, when she chanced upon a compartment with just enough space for herself and her trunk. She was about to slide open the door, when the boy in the compartment noticed her, and stood up to open the door for her.

"Thank you,"she said, trying her best to smile genuinely. The boy, whom had introduced himself as Derek, smiled enthusiastically at her, and ushered her into the compartment. "Sorry, if it bugs you that we're only third years," he said after introducing the other girls in the compartment. All three of them were in Ravenclaw, but each seemed so different to Ebony. Derek was obviously the friendly one that could make friends anywhere, and was overly trusting. The girl that sat across from him, whom Ebony found out was named Samantha, seemed awfully shy. Though, despite her shyness towards Ebony, she seemed perfectly verbose with the other girl and even more so with Derek. The other girl that sat besides Samantha, was named Evie. She had claimed to not have a surname. Something of which Ebony found odd, and thought was probably false. The girl was one of those people that, had she been a muggle or muggle-born, would've been considered a hipster/punk. She had short spiky hair, that had streaks of red and dark purple everywhere. Evie could probably look scary if she tried hard enough. It was a huge contrast to Samantha's slight features. Samantha had long, silky hair that was strawberry blond. She had a very light complexion and despite the hunched-over shoulders that implied weakness, there was a sense of inner strength hidden somewhere in this girl. Ebony wouldn't have been surprised if Samantha turned out the strongest-willed person out of the people she knew.

Ebony felt very out of place with these Ravenclaws. It wasn't because they were Ravenclaws, but because she felt like she was in some type of situation she had not business getting involved in.

"So, what did you say your name was, again?" Derek finally says after she's settled and sitting down. Startled, Ebony stuttered, "I-I didn't, but its Ebony." Ebony also wasn't comfortable, because the boy was sitting a little too close for her to relax. It wasn't the same type of nervousness she got when George was near. It was the type that makes you feel queasy the bad way.

Apparently, Ebony wasn't the only one whom noticed his close proximity, because Samantha's whole body was tensed. Her knuckles were turning white from gripping a book she had on her lap very tightly. Not wanting to seem like she was encouraging Derek, Ebony leaned away from him as was possible in the confines of the compartment. It was then that Ebony regretted sitting down in there. She desperately wished someone could thrust open the compartment door and save her.

"Derek!"

Derek jumped away from Ebony, and she looked up at her saviour. He was tall, she guessed about six feet, and had dark hair that stopped right over his ears. "-Think you're real hilarious, don't you?" Ebony looked from between the boy that saved her, and Derek. He says,"Will, I have no idea what you're talking about" Despite what Derek said, Ebony guessed he did because he was smirking up at the other boy she assumed to be Will. "You know exactly what I'm talking about, you little twat." Will sighed in exasperation and noticed the other people in the compartment for the first time. He didn't miss that they were all female. "What's wrong little brother? What'd you have to pay them to make them sit with you?" The boy named Will sneered at his younger brother and strode out of the compartment, not waiting for an answer. Whatever it was that had angered him, must have been really annoying.

Thinking it the perfect time for her escape, Ebony jumped and followed Will out of the compartment.

"T-Thank you," she said to the back of his head. Will turned halfway and after looking at her blankly for a few seconds, he says, "What?" It was only natural he was confused. She hadn't really said why she thanked him.

"-For saving me from Derek. I wasn't comfortable sitting there, anymore."

Will nods absent-mindedly and turns back to where he was headed, "Well in that case, no problem. My little brother can be a pain in the arse. And I would know..." he mumbled, more to himself. With that said, he started walking away from where Ebony stood transfixed. She didn't know what had driven her to follow him out. She had just followed a whim, and she now had no idea where to go from there. She was not feeling up to re-entering the compartment. She no longer felt quite so welcome.

**Platform 93/4 _- Jamie's POV_**

I heaved my trunk off the train and when I had everything I owned, I waved goodbye to Holly and tried to find my parents. I wasn't really looking forward meeting them, and I was especially not in the mood to stay in that house in that room for any amount of time. Being there still never ceases to make me feel suffocated. I can't blame the house, though. The house is large, and spacious.

The size has nothing to do with the suffocation.

"Jamie, dear! Let Simon carry your heavy trunk. You wouldn't want to hurt your pretty self," my mummy dearest said as soon as I was within her line of view and ear-shot. I grimaced, but continued to hold the trunk.

"Mum, I'm fine. Simon's old, and he would probably get hurt more than myself,"

Simon was our chauffeur, but he usually ended up being my mother's pack-mule-slash-bitch. Merlin knows how the poor guy can put up with her every day ...all day. I go mad just having to be in her presence for more than a couple minutes.

Mum forced a strained smile on her face, but otherwise allowed me to put away my own trunk in the outlandish car. I still can't understand what it is with the woman and having to feel and look rich. Its annoying and tacky. Also, what's with calling me "dear"? I'm not her lovely little daughter. I could never be that to her. I'm the substitute, the fake one.

After we were all set and ready, Simon pulled away from Kings Cross, and began the two hour drive to the house. That's also something I don't get. I always thought of the mini palace as a house, but never a home. I think I realized the answer once I finally say the gate into the house, and the memories of years of misery came back to me.

_"Miss Jamie, you mustn't run so! Your mother, the mistress, would have a fit if you hurt herself!" said a man whom was running after a little girl of about six years of age. The little girl was running around the garden, her favourite garden, and ignored her personal butler._

_The young girl giggled and laughed, a little faerie playing among the many pretty plants and butterflies. "I don't wanna listen to mummy! She never plays with me. Mummy is boring!" She lets out more peals of laughter as her puppy, Ramone, tackles her to the ground. "Ramone! Bad doggy!" Jamie giggled as she picked herself up off the floor, then as if remembering something, she sai , "Simon, would Lydia have liked running and playing with Ramone, too?"_

_The man named Simon looked at Jamie with a severe expression, "Miss Jamie, Lydia died when she was four, but she was your twin. Of course she would like everything you liked."_

_"Why did she have to die? I would've had a friend..." After having said that, the little girl fell into a severe coughing fit. She often fell ill, and it was nothing new._

_"Miss Jamie, you have plenty of friends. Lydia is in a better place now. C' mon now, we have to get you inside before you fall ill again," Simon says with a softened expression. Little did he know, that the girl named Lydia was not dead. She had not died, like her mother had declared two years ago. In fact, if one investigated the mini palace, one would find the young girl crouched in a dark room underneath the house...alone._

_Lydia lived in a dark, dark world. She was alone, and she was scared. Her room recieved no real light. The only light came from a small orb-like light that had been left in the room, so she would not be completely terrified. Despite never knowing love, Lydia did not hate her parents. She was not yet old enough to know that she should. The poor dear had been imprisoned, and declared dead the day before her and Jamie's fourth birthday. She could only remember snippets of the world outside her prison. Her mother had not allowed her to live free much longer. Had she been old enough to remember anything, it would've made things for her mother much more difficult._

_To understand why her mother "killed" her, you would have to know more about the family history._

_Lydia's mother was from a very long line of pure-blooded asian wizards. Just like nobles from old times, they felt it necessary to only hand over companies and homes to the appropriate heirs. Often times, families would give birth to twins knowing one was fated to be a shadow of the other. If something were to happen to one twin, the other would be able to replace the other with little or no obstacle. It was the perfect plan for the -now, Mrs. Harrow. She had no qualms with pretending her other daughter, Lydia, had died with dragon-pox. She did it sneakily and smoothly. So smooth did she manage it that her muggle husband, Mr. Harrow, never knew a thing._

_Of course, confusing a muggle enough for them to believe their daughter is genuinely dead wasn't too hard a task the fully-trained witch._

_Don't get her wrong, though. Mrs Harrow had nothing against muggle men. She was married to one. She just didn't want Mr. Harrow stopping her from ensuring the family business. She knew that if he ever found out the truth of Lydia's "death", he would foil her plans. Mrs. Harrow couldn't let that happen. Jamie was becoming steadily more ill, and Lydia was perfectly healthy. Lydia would have to one day become Jamie, and to be ready, she would have to never develop her own self. For that reason, Lydia was condemned to a life in the shadows unless Lydia died. It was better for one of them to "die" now, than later, when the death would cause a scandal. If Lydia took Jamie's spot, it wouldn't change anything. No one would notice. Family honour would be preserved._

"Ms. Jamie, I think its about time you got off the car," Simon cautioned.

I was successfully shaken out of my reverie, or I don't really know what it was. My mind was simply blank. I know some people don't really believe people can do that. Some don't think anyone can completely keep their mind clear, and simply not think.

Anyway, I did as Simon suggested and made my way off the vehicle. Yes, I called it a vehicle because no way in merlin's saggy left foot is that a car. I have yet to see such an enormous "car", hence my use of the word vehicle. I let Simon carry my trunk, albeit reluctantly. My dearest mother was glaring at me. I guessed she wouldn't stand for me to have to carry the thing anymore. She only let my do it at the station because she didn't like causing scenes. But it still hurt seeing the poor guy suffer.

There it is...The whole family _honour_ thing. Merlin, this woman was mad. Sometimes I wonder how much worse it would've been had she been British. At least British pure-blooded wizards didn't feel the need to ...

My thoughts were once again interrupted by my jamming a foot on the door frame to my bedroom.

"I know its going to be a 'normal' stay at home when I run into that door. -It's weird if I don't jam my foot into it at one point," I mutter to myself. I don't run into the door on purpose...I just never remember to walk an extra step forward before I turn into the room. I look around the room, and was once again filled with a sad nostalgia. I miss my sister, my twin, every day more than the last.

This is why I never come home for the holidays, and will only return during the summer break. I can't bear to think about my dead sister anymore.

I might hate this life, but its better than the basement.

I hate that the only way I was able to find some kind of happiness was when she died. I guess I wasn't the best of sisters...

**The Thompson Home- Ebony's POV**

I've had an epiphany.

Want to hear it?...Okay, I've come to realize that humans are very awkward and can't seem to formulate any type of speech when faced with complicated situations. Well, at least my family is like that.

I had crossed the threshold to my home after a really awkward train ride, and even more awkward car ride home. The train ride was, to put it mildly, a fiasco. After I followed Will out of the compartment, I was left with two options: Go back into the compartment and deal with the overly-friendly third year, or stand out in the hall like an idiot. If anyone knew me at all, they could probably imagine which option I took.

That's right, I stood outside the bloody compartment like a bloody idiot.

It was extra awkward, though, when I had to get my muggle clothing out of my trunk to change back into. The girl named Evie was looking like she had something lodged in her throat. I'm guessing she was trying _that_ hard not to laugh. Great. That's bloody fantastic. Samantha's lips were pursed into a very thin line, and she was looking down at the book on her lap. Derek didn't- or couldn't- even look up at me.

Not that I minded. It was just weird, is all. I reckon I hurt his "manly pride"(I call it ego) when I rejected his advances. On top of that, I followed his older brother out of the compartment. Oh yes, I would imagine I damaged his ego by quite a lot. I'm not entirely sure what type of twisted love triangle I had stumbled upon, but I really hope I never have to meet either of them again. Today's train ride was more than enough torture. I'm not exaggerating. It counted as much as a form of torture as the physical kind. If you don't agree try being in the same situation, and see how you feel.

Of course, I wouldn't have had any of this happen had Ginny not been MIA. Ginny, Ron, George, and Fred had been completely AWOL.

I never thought I would have missed them all as much as I missed them, then. Even Harry was gone! It was all mad. If I hadn't missed them that much, I would've been much more angry at them for abandoning me. Especially in a time of need! Okay, that was a bit melodramatic...

Oh, it was also pretty awkward when I finally met my parents again. It slipped my mind to send them a letter earlier, so I could ease their worrying a tad. Alas, I failed to. They were so worried sick about how I would greet them when I got off the train, that it was almost comical. _Almost. _You could imagine how they felt when I stormed out of the train, looking very sober then hugged them like they were my lifeline.

Which, in a way, they are.

Sure, I was on a bit of a warpath when I first found out I was adopted, but they _did_ raise me for the past thirteen years. That's the best kind of proof of love anyone can get. Well, it was more than enough proof for me. I am curious about Sirius, my father, and my mother...But they're still just strangers to me. _They_ didn't raise me. _They_ didn't love me unconditionally, no matter how many tantrums I threw as a toddler. I guess when you boil down to it...my parents are still _my parents._

"So, you found it in that big heart of yours to forgive us?"

Successfully knocked out of my own thoughts I turned towards my mother whom had been the one to speak.

"What? How could you doubt that? You guys are still my parents," I said with was hopefully sounded as reassuring voice. Saying these kind of things aloud, weren't really my forte. Sure, I _thought_ them, but I never really voiced them. Its saved me from a lot of potentially fatal situations sometimes, though. Like, that one time a couple years back with Snape. Everyone was saying that one of his hobbies was cross-dressing. With the frilly women's dress-robes and everything. At first, I didn't really think cross-dressing seemed like his type of thing.

That's what I thought until I got a good look at him the next day. If it weren't for my amazing think-before-you-speak strategy, I probably wouldn't have survived longer than that class period. I had almost let it slip, right then and there, that pink dress-robes wouldn't have looked all that bad against his pale skin tone. I doubt he would've appreciated the comment very much.

"No, we...I just thought ... Nevermind," my mum started, then quickly enveloped me in a tight hug. After that, no one really knew what to say. We stood there awkwardly, until my dad suggested putting up my trunk. He and mum helped me stuff everything in the car.

No one really spoke, not even when we arrived at my home of thirteen years. I passed by the living room, where I first learned how to stand on my feet; the kitchen where I would never stop throwing food my mother tried to feed me as a toddler. When I reached the frame for my bedroom door, I saw the little scratch marks that marked how much I grew every couple months on the side. I was tiny as a three-year-old and slowly the lines reach about four feet, where the lines suddenly became more spread out. I had finally turned eight, and I didn't feel like I needed to check my height every month. The lines were more spread apart, because I would only check every year, until I turned ten. I hadn't scratched my height in since then.

I smiled and fingered the scratch marks absent-mindedly. Things were so different now, yet, the same.

"You used to be so tiny. Its sometimes still hard to believe you're so grown up now. You used to be our little girl; our _only _baby."

I turned around to come face-to-face with my mother, whom had a sad smile playing along the corners of her lips.

"I'm still your little girl. That's something that would never change, mum. How can you not know that?" I guess the hug wasn't enough to convince her that I really wasn't angry, or anything.

Before my mother could start crying, I hugged her again.

"I'll always be your little girl. Never forget it"

With that said, I went inside my room and was instantly greeted by an overexcited owl. It was tiny, and obviously proud of itself for having done its job well. "Hey there, cutie. Did Ginny send you?"

I'd seen this owl before, and I was pretty sure it was Ginny's; or Ron's. I went over to the owl, and relieved it of its burden; a letter.

It was in Ginny's handwriting, and she was inviting her to spend a couple days with her family. And a little bit tacked on to the end: I would also finally meet Sirius Black; my father.

"...Bloody hell."

**The Lambert Home- 3rd Person**

Holly was not having the best of breaks.

For one, she still was not in speaking terms with two of her closest friends. Second, Jamie disappeared as soon as they stepped onto the platform; not even giving Holly the chance to say goodbye. Thirdly, she had to tell her mother everything about her fight with her best friends. Holly might not have had the best family memories from early childhood, but she was very close to her step-parents. In fact, she told her mother _everything. _She had to tell her mother, Mrs. Lambert, because they were just that close.

"Don't you think that there's something weird about both Ginny and Ebony not wanting to tell me something? It's weird!" she was explaining to Mrs. Lambert while she manually hung up garland around the living room. Holly was helping her mother decorate the home in preparation for Christmas.

Her mother paused for a moment from magically decorating the tree. She turned to Holly after awhile and said, "Well Honey, did it ever occur to you that maybe they have a secret that they're not comfortable telling anyone? Did you ever tell them about being adopted?"

"No! They don't need to know about me being adopted. That's very personal!"

Mrs. Lambert put down her wand and gave her full attention to her daughter. "Is what you're doing any different than what they're doing? They're keeping a secret, and so are you. Perhaps, it's a secret that they feel is much to personal. They'll tell you when they're ready."

Holly bit her lip and tried to give her full attention to decorating the house so that she wouldn't be thinking about what her mother had just said. She knew that her mother was perfectly right, and that her theory made much more sense than the ones she had been making up.

"Maybe"

**The Next Day- A Park nearby Grimmauld Place**

Ebony had been waiting for awhile now. She had been told in the letter that she was to wait in the park until someone went to to take her back to where everyone was at. She looked apprehensive, and almost as if she had started to regret her decision to go. She had even lied to her parents, telling them that she was going to be staying with a friend for a couple days before Christmas. Of course, to her, it wasn't really a lie. But she had not told the whole truth. She had not wanted to think of how her mother and father would react to her wanting to meet her biological father.

So there she was. Freezing and alone, she waited and waited for what seemed like ages until someone she knew called out to her.

"Ebony! Hey, we're supposed to take you back to the house, so."

Ebony whirled around to look at the girl with flaming red hair, staring, not really sure she was seeing correctly. She had started to wonder if they were even coming.

"What took you so long?" she asked Ginny.

Ginny just bit her lip and took out a little slip of paper with an address written on it, "Look, I'm sorry if you had to wait for ages out in this weather, so just read the address and don't forget it."

"Why?-"

"Just do it. You'll need to remember it for when we get there. It's not too far from here, so you won't have to spend too much time out here anymore"Ginny revealed bluntly.

Ebony wanted nothing more than to curl up in bed, but she nonetheless followed Ginny until they were standing in between apartments eleven and thirteen.

"What happened to-"she started.

"Think about what you just read..."Ginny interrupted.

The address had said Number Twelve Grimmauld Place, but Ebony only saw eleven and thirteen...

"Oh wow...That sure is odd" As soon as Ebony had thought about the address, the building began to expand. She looked around herself, but no one else noticed what had happened. In fact, it was pretty empty outdoors, for people were curling up in bed by that time. A fact she was becoming envious of.

Ginny smiled at Ebony and said as nicely as she could, "We'll explain everything inside, but you're going to have to be very quiet when you walk in. You do not want to wake _her_ up."

"Who?"

Ginny didn't answer, but instead, she walked Ebony into the home. It was still pretty dark and dingy, but not as much as it had been just a couple days prior. She had wished she could've told Ebony everything outside, but it would've been to risky if anything was heard by an overly curious muggle. She was not very sure as to how everyone else would react to Ebony suddenly showing up. By then, everyone else had been clued in on her parentage. Harry, Sirius, and herself had not found it an issue to tell the rest of the Weasley family about it.

Of course, it was a bit of a shock for her father and the rest of her family. Ginny had left the castle early, because her father had been attacked. He had only recently been discharged and allowed to leave the hospital. It was then, that Ginny and Harry could finally think about other things. Hence, remembering the Ebony-Sirius situation. Ginny snorted when she remembered George shooting the milk he was drinking out of his nose when he found out. Ebony rose an eyebrow at her friend.

How could she find such a house to be funny? The place seemed like the type to belong to the darkest of wizards. What were they doing there?

She was about to voice her questions, when she was led into the kitchen that looked somewhat better. As soon as they crossed the threshold Ginny called to her mother.

"Mum, we're here"

That certainly brought everyone's attention toward Ginny and Ebony. Ebony went through everyone one at a time, giving each Weasley a hug or handshake. She was pleased to know that Ginny's mother was sweet and welcoming. She didn't know how she would have survived a minute if Mrs. Weasley had been anything but.

She was, however, not pleased when she saw that Mr. Weasley looked as if he had just barely escaped death. He had ghastly bruises and was still bandaged up. Ebony was about to inquire, but stopped herself knowing no one would want to answer. After the Weasley's, she went towards the rest of the people she hadn't noticed were in there. Harry was among them and another man that was staring intently at her. She saw a bushy brunette, and she knew her to be Hermione Granger; one of Harry's best friends. She greeted Hermione and Harry first, having waved at Ron Weasley, until she finally turned to the man that was _still_ staring at her.

It was then that she finally took in his appearance. He was not that old. She guessed that he was probably around thirty, he had a scruffy look. She had a feeling that he must have-at one point- been very handsome. Her breath stopped short when they reached his eyes, for she had finally realized how he seemed familiar. They were a startling shade of grey.

Grey.

_Her_ grey.

He was _familiar_, all right.

Ebony tried to untangle her tongue, for it had chosen that moment to lodge itself into her throat. She couldn't find the right words to say. _"Say something!", _she thought furiously_,"Saying anything is better than nothing!"_It only made her feel a tiny bit better that he seemed to have the same problem.

They stared at each other for a whole two minutes, oblivious to everyone else holding their breaths in anticipation.

It was Ebony whom found her voice first.

"You're...my dad; Sirius Black," she said after a steadying breath.

Then, Sirius finally found his voice as well.

"Hello, Ebony" he said slowly, as if expecting her to run screaming from him.

* * *

**(A/N: I still need to fix this. A lot. Take in mind people, that this is ONLY my first draft. I'm the write-before-you-think type of girl;])**


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